Walkinshaw Andretti United has today announced a new partnership with VI-grade, advancing the Teams simulation programme for 2021.

The partnership sees the VI-DriveSim simulation software from VI-grade, used in conjunction with Walkinshaw Andretti United’s Motum Simulator, for all simulation activities away from the racetrack.

VI-grade is the leading provider of best-in-class software products and services for advanced applications in the field of system level simulation.

Their VI-Motorsport software is based on a faster-than-real-time simulation solver which can predict the virtual car behaviour, and has been extensively validated against test data in various race car series.

The software will help the Team reduce the time needed to find the best set-up and explore more design variants in less time.

The software and simulator will be used by the Walkinshaw Andretti United engineers, as well as drivers Chaz Mostert and Bryce Fullwood in the lead up, and during the 2021 season.

Carl Faux - WAU Technical Director

“It’s fantastic to be able to enter into a partnership with VI-grade, as we continue to advance our simulation programme away from the racetrack.

“Testing miles in our category are extremely limited, so whatever we can do while back at base to arrive at a racetrack with as much data and direction for car setup is going to be extremely advantageous to us.

“Their software provides us with instant analysis and feedback, from both the data in front of us, as well as the feedback from the driver on the simulator. Linked directly to our vehicle setup database the ability for engineers and drivers to virtually run through test programs prior to hitting the track should promote increased performance and translate to better decision making through sessions.

“We have been using VI-grade software offline for a number of years but now combining this with our Motum Simulator to do real Driver-in-Loop testing is a really exciting prospect, and one that the driver can provide information back to the engineers on feel of the car that sometimes gets lost in the purely virtual world. Certainly, this is a giant step forward in the capabilities at WAU and something we are going to rely on heavily throughout the 2021 season.”

Guido Bairati - VI-grade

“We are excited to keep working with WAU and to move our collaboration to the next level, bringing our VI-DriveSim software suite on the simulator. Off-line simulations are essential to design a good race car but getting the feedback from the real driver is essential to gain that little additional advantage that brings you on top of the grid. The realism of our real-time vehicle model in VI-Motorsport in conjunction with digitized tracks in VI-GraphSim will allow WAU drivers to prepare at best for their race weekends, finding the best set up for their car and the best driving strategy to stay ahead of competition.”

About VI-Motorsport

VI-grade’s motorsport arm, VI-Motorsport is a software environment for vehicle modelling and dynamic analysis, which helps race cars designers and track engineers to predict vehicle performance when set-up parameters are modified, before the car is built and also in support of race events.

VI-Motorsport is based on a faster-than-real-time simulation solver which can predict the virtual car behaviour and has been extensively validated against test data in various race car series.

The VI-Motorsport environment is complemented by the ability to create road data (both driver lines and tire contact profiles) starting either from GPS, telemetry, laser data measurements, or eventually from a fully analytical description.

Finally, an advanced driver model allows users to drive the vehicle model around the specified track and to find the limits of the car.

VI-Motorsport helps racing teams to reduce time needed to find the best set-up for a given car on a given circuit and to explore more design variants in less time.

For additional information on VI-Motorsport, please visit https://www.vi-grade.com/en/products/vi-motorsport.

About VI-grade

VI-grade is a leading provider of real-time simulation software and driver-in-the-loop simulators. Established in 2005, VI-grade delivers innovative solutions for streamlining the transportation vehicle development process from concept to sign-off in the automotive, aerospace, motorcycle, motorsports and railway sectors. With offices in Germany, Switzerland, Italy, UK, Japan, China, and the USA and a worldwide channel network of more than 20 trusted partners, VI-grade is a dynamic and growing company with a highly skilled technical team.

VI-grade is part of Spectris plc, the expert in providing insight through precision measurement. Spectris’ global group of businesses are focused on delivering value beyond measure for all our stakeholders. Spectris is headquartered in Egham, Surrey, United Kingdom; the Company employs approximately 9,000 people located in more than 30 countries.

For further information about VI-grade please visit https://www.vi-grade.com.