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SMART HOME PAGE

SM AeRodynamic Techniques = 'SMART'.
Get SMART and get Aerodynamic!!

SM AeRo Techniques is an aerodynamics advisory service provided by Simon McBeath, author of Competition Car Aerodynamics (see Books) . If you want to join the growing band of competitors who have found extra competitiveness by using this value for money service, read on...

A basic
CFD service is also available.

For more information on wings and the latest news of our successes please visit The Wing Shop page or click on the links on the right to find out more about the manufacturers of our wings, and our other partners.

 

link to Ansys

link to MIRA

link to Racecar Engineering

link to DJ Racecars

link to ReVerie

   

Aerodynamics advisory service

SM Aero Techniques provides a range of aerodynamics advisory services up to and including surveying the external and internal details of your whole competition car, and providing a detailed report containing recommendations on ways of improving the car's aerodynamics. But other options are available, as outlined below.

Fancy getting more competitive by improving your racecar's aerodynamics? Then get in touch with Simon McBeath to discuss the possibilities. A range of services is available to suit your budget, but in essence SMART's services are tailored for and aimed at amateur and semi-pro level competitors:

  • The popular 'remote survey package' involves producing a comprehensive, detailed report of recommendations specific to your car from photos and drawings supplied via the wonders of email, and is available for the one-off fee of just £395.00 (at June 2011).

    A reasonable amount of phone and/or email follow up support is included to assist with the implementation of concepts and designs.

    This option has proven highly popular with competitors in the UK, Europe, the USA, South America, Australia and New Zealand, and without exception has generated positive feedback as well as that all important improvement in performance!

  • If you have just a few queries about a specific aspect of your competition car's aerodynamics then these can be addressed, and charges will relate to the time spent providing answers and an amount of inevitable follow up discussion.

  • Other support options are also available according to requirements and location, including site visits, design assistance etc. on an hourly, daily or contract rate basis as required.

    Please get in touch to discuss your needs. Initial discussions are free, and will focus on what you want to achieve and what can be delivered in response, and will determine the likely extent of your project. Quotations as well as terms and conditions will be provided at that stage so you can decide how you wish to proceed.

    On the right are some photos of clients' racecars that have benefitted from the SMART advisory service.


Mirage Engineering Arrows A6, Historic F1, Steve Hartley, 2006 & 2007 FIA Historic F1 World Champion


Gary West, 2006 & 2008 Autralian Hillclimb Champion, Lola Buick
Photo copyright Geoff Benson


Race winning HDT Racing Porsche 911, Graham Coomes


Paragon Motorsport's ex-ALMS GT2 Porsche

   

NEWS

February 2011
Updates from the MIRA wind tunnel! Courtesy of MIRA and Racecar Engineering magazine a number of visits have been made to the full-scale wind tunnel over the winter months and these have appeared and will feature in forthcoming issues of that journal. Take out a subscription so you don't miss out!

In November 2010 the fantastic DJ Firestorm single seat hillclimber of Wallace Menzies was our test subject, and a full day produced excellent progress on the already very respectable aerodynamic performance of the car (I had to put it like that because I had a small influence on its aero design...!)


Then in January we evaluated three sports racers. Firstly we spent a day on the ADR3 (www.adr-engineering.co.uk) of Simon Marsh, with a host of modified parts prepared by Ben and Nick at Carbon Weezel.


A week later we then shared a day on the CTR Developments Arachnid coupe sports racer of Matthew and Richard Chamberlain, and the very different Force LM001 of Graham Wynn, constructed by Ian Dayson at Force Racing Cars.

Many thanks to all involved.

 

To make sure you get your regular copy of Racecar Engineering subscribe online from the magazine's web site.

   

September 2010
Congratulations to Dan Wasdahl on his third successive A Mod win at the 38th SCCA Solo 2 Nationals at Lincoln, Nebraska, September 3rd - 10th, 2010, and for taking fastest time overall for the second time in three years in the BBR Phantom DVS-1.

Congratulations too to Clemens Burger on winning B Mod again in his LeGrand, and to Fred Zust on winning X Prepared for the third successive time in his Lotus Elise.

For more background on this story click here.


Photo courtesy: Rupert Berrington Action Photography
   

September 2010
SM Aerotechniques recently helped 'Mulsannes Corner' with a short CFD investigation of the 2009 ACO rear wing regulations for Le Mans LMP1 prototypes, and we're getting close to publishing the findings.  The CFD anaylsis looked at the rear wing regulations changes introduced in 2009 and their effects as well as the introduction of the 'swan neck' rear wing mounts.

 

   

June 2010
Thanks largely to development work being carried out on my own racecar design and (eventually...) build project, a hillclimb single seater christened the 'Vortex', in-house CFD capability is improving all the time. Using 'CFD-Flo', which is a part of the Ansys 12 Workbench suite of simulation software, not only has wing development become more reliable and accurate, but 'reduced detail' models of a single seater, based on the Vortex, and a GT car have been created that allow more representative wing analysis and development to be carried out. For more on this please click on CFD

 

   

May 2010 - Superkarts in the wind tunnel

We were in the wind tunnel as guests of MIRA and Racecar Engineering magazine again, this time with a select little group of superkarts. Many thanks to Ben Willshire and his father Rob, FIA-CIK European champion Gavin Bennett and his father Peter, Russell Anderson of Anderson CSK Motorsport and to Phil Featherstone, owner and manufacturer of Raider karts. As usual the test formed the basis of another mini-series of Aerobytes articles published in the September, October and November 2010 issues of Racecar Engineering. Subscriptions can be taken out online at www.racecar-engineering.com. Back issues can also be purchased from the publisher if you miss any.

 

   

CFD

CFD service provision is usually thought of as a very expensive option, but SM Aero Techniques can now offer value for money CFD services on projects such as wing evaluations in isolation in 'freestream air' and also on generic 'reduced detail' racecar models. Currently GT and single seater models are available to put your wings to the test in a more realistic environment than 'freestream'. More models will become available in time, according to demand.

Ansys CFD-Flo, part of the Ansys 12 Workbench suite, is now being used, offering potent levels of mesh control and 'boundary layer inflation', a robust solver and good post-processing tools enabling force calculations on individual components as well as a range of illuminating flow visualisation techniques.

The type of projects this service enables includes: general profile optimisation; wing location optimisation (where technical regulations permit) and wing angle mapping in a realistic working environment; wing profile comparisons; wing profile 'twist' optimisation to achieve better downforce, better -L/D or whatever key target is required.

This is not a service that will enable full car analysis at the 'micro aerodynamics' level, like perhaps we might think happens in Formula 1 or other top level categories - the hardware and software available fall short of what's required for that. But at a 'macro aerodynamics' level, extremely useful indications of the sorts of parameters mentioned in the previous paragraph can be obtained. So if you think this might help your project, please get in touch for a preliminary discussion.

 

 


   
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