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F1: Simulation Helps Teams Prepare
Ferrari driver Felipe Massa shows off high-tech simulator…
Tom Jensen  |  Posted November 16, 2012   Austin, TX
Felipe Massa drives the Ferrari simulator in Austin, Texas. (Photo: SPEED)
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When the Formula One teams take to the all-new Circuit of the Americas track in Austin, Texas, on Friday morning, they will get their first taste of how the track actually drives.

But, truth is, they’ve got a pretty good idea already.

All of the top teams in Formula One rely on simulation software of one sort or another to help them prepare for races. In the case of Scuderia Ferrari, the team has three full-size simulators, purported to cost in the neighborhood of half a million dollars each.

One of the simulators is in the team’s home base of Maranello, Italy. Another is in driver Fernando Alonso’s home. And a third travels periodically with Shell/Pennzoil, Ferrari’s technical partner.

Known as the Shell Professional Simulator Experience (SPSE), the device combines a genuine, licensed Ferrari 2009 F1 chassis and replica Scuderia Ferrari steering wheel with a 2-meter high, 180-degree screen displaying laser-scanned track imagery accurate to within 5 mm of the actual circuit.

The simulator is remarkable in its likeness to the real thing. When first started, drivers are on cold tires and brakes, which become more responsive as they gain heat and pressure around the track.

Five blue lights on the steering wheel light up sequentially, and when the fifth light goes on, it signifies the car is at its maximum of 18,000 rpm and it’s time to use the right paddle shifter to upshift. As you would expect, the car is remarkably sensitive to even the slightest steering inputs. Hit the brakes hard and the seatbelts tighten, just as they would in the real race car.

The simulator uses some of the most advanced modeling techniques in the world to replicate the movement of the car and the surface of the track. This is achieved by providing feedback in three ways: 1. Movement of on-screen graphics; 2. Tub movement – roll (side-to-side, vertically), pitch (nose to tail, vertically) and yaw (side-to-side, horizontally); and 3. Steering wheel resistance.

In fact, there is so much movement within the simulator at speed that it’s been known to induce nausea among novice users.

For test drivers, they can use the simulator to try different gear ratios, make mechanical changes on the car and to gain track familiarization, the latter of which is obviously a critical priority for Austin.

At the new and highly challenging COTA facility, Ferrari has relied heavily on the simulator to learn the circuit.

“You have a very high-speed sector, which is sector one,” said Ferrari driver Felipe Massa. “Then you get to another sector which is very slow — it’s very technical, slow corners with a double apex. I think it’s very interesting. It will not be an easy track to learn, but I think it will be a very, very nice track to drive.”

Based on his simulator experience, Massa said he felt good about COTA.

“It’s a very modern track,” he said. “Technical, some difficult corners … very interesting.”

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100.
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