McLaren’s secret Formula 1 weapon
McLaren Racing use the cutting-edge simulation technology housed in the McLaren Technology Centre to test and develop the car all year round. We use this immensely powerful tool to help us predict handling, performance, crash test results and a multitude of other dynamic properties.
State-of-the-art simulation
Based on the aerospace technology used for jet fighters, our ‘driver in loop’ simulator combines the very latest technology with the skills and experience of our racing and test drivers. High-performance computers process the 3-D track graphics and the complex data needed to run the simulator.
Our drivers sit in a chassis suspended on an electric rig, which physically recreates every bump and reaction to the drivers’ moves. The G-forces are so realistic, in fact, that it’s been known to make uninitiated drivers feel unwell. Our drivers are highly sensitive to the smallest changes in the car, and it is their ability to accurately communicate their feedback to the engineers that makes the simulator such a powerful racing tool.
Simulation, a powerful tool of analysis
This virtual testing is unaffected by variable weather conditions and is less time-intensive than track testing. This allows us to concentrate our engineers’ time and efforts fully on experimenting with a range of different technical solutions.
It allows us to do everything, from monitoring tyre performance, testing new parts and even predicting lap times. “We feed in all the available data – corner radii, gradient, track width, and marry this to our car’s performance parameters. At the first Turkish Grand Prix, the predicted lap time produced by our simulator was within 1/100th of a second of our Friday practice time,” Dick Glover, McLaren Automotive’s Technical Director, explains. “If you overlaid the simulator lap with the real thing – the application of throttle, brake pressure, steering angle, and so on – you would not believe how accurate it was.” The power of our simulator was proven by our victory in that race.