Winner: IMPAXX foam – Dow Automotive

A Nextel Cup race car is a far cry from the Nissan Altima mid-size sedan, but it was in the latter that Dow Automotive’s IMPAXX energy-absorbing foam made its public debut.

Now the styrene-based material, in the form of a panel that attaches to the tube frame on each side of a Car of Tomorrow, has a NASCAR part number and is being sold to every Cup team.

IMPAXX is highly engineered thermoplastic foam designed to absorb energy upon impact, compressing, buckling and ultimately exhibiting controlled fracture during the energy-absorbing process.

According to driver David Reutimann, IMPAXX foam has significantly raised the level of safety in NASCAR. “Recently, we had a situation at the Talladega Super Speedway where the Burger King Toyota Camry was hit by a car in the driver’s side door, and then our car hit the wall,” Reutimann explained. “It happened simultaneously. It was like a double impact. The hit was so hard; I didn’t think we could continue. The way the foam absorbed everything was pretty amazing and I felt fine after the accident.”

IMPAXX appeared on every Car of Tomorrow that raced in 2007, in 16 Nextel Cup events in all; CoT will be adopted for the full 36-race schedule in 2008. Dow has not ruled out supplying IMPAXX to other series in the future, such as F1 or WRC, if permitted by the regulations.

Winner: KD-RIG – Accelerating Developments International

Accelerating Developments International (ADI) is based a few miles from Charlotte, NC, USA. It is here that the company has developed a machine called the KD-RIG – a semi-dynamic test rig for race teams and automotive OEMs that is used for vehicle suspension and chassis diagnostics. A unique feature is its use of real track data to more closely simulate the turns and surfaces of individual circuits.

The new design of KD-RIG has evolved from the previous K-RIG system, popular among NASCAR teams. KD-RIG replaces its predecessor’s hydraulic system with servos for more precise movement control and reduced maintenance costs, greatly broadening the spectrum of diagnostic scenarios. The system allows for up to eight times faster motions, and is coupled with high-speed data acquisition for optimum capturing of vehicle characteristics, such as bump steer and wheel loads.

KD-RIG’s advanced modular base allows for variable track width and wheelbase, while the system’s software can be tailored to the customer’s requirements. The tower system’s unique multi-axis design provides key benefits in wheel movement and vertical loading. The patented hub-mount system improves on conventional kinematics test systems and is claimed to bring a new level of data accuracy to chassis and suspension diagnostics.

Winner: Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium

The spectacular Spa-Francorchamps circuit returned to the F1 calendar in 2007 following major upgrades to the building housing the pit garages, and changes to the track.

In order to best integrate the new pit complex into the existing paddock space, it was necessary to increase the rear paddock area toward the chicane, using a huge platform. This required 400 columns to be set, for a total length of 10km. A 4,000-seat grandstand has been built across from the new pit building.

The layout of the ‘Bus Stop Chicane’ has completely changed, with the reversal of the chicane resulting in a straight starting grid. Run-off areas at the start and end of this chicane have also been provided, as they have at the exit of La Source and at Post 21.

All excavated material was reused on the site for embankments. All demolition debris was crushed and screened in the recycling center established on the Ster side of the parking lot, to be reintegrated into the construction works.

Winner: 908 HDi FAP – Peugeot Sport

Closed coupé LMP1 cars will completely replace open LMP1 sports prototypes on the Le Mans grid in 2010. But one manufacturer was already there in 2007, as Peugeot brought its brand-new, diesel-powered 908 HDi FAP to the 24-hour classic, where it finished second. It has also won every round of the 2007 Le Mans Series so far.

With Audi having set the bar very high in endurance racing in recent years, Peugeot knew that a fresh approach would be required if it were to be successful, so it approached its tire supplier Michelin for input into the design of the 908.

Peugeot decided that no matter what they were doing on the car, if it wasn’t going to make the tire work any better, the car wasn’t going to go any faster. The result was that from day one, Michelin was involved in fundamental design considerations for the car, such as static and dynamic weight distribution.

Says Bruno Famin, technical director at Peugeot Sport: “We met regularly with Michelin and they gave us their views on our proposals. As part of these exchanges, the 908 was also measured and characterized on the benches at Michelin, which are very good. Everything on the car has been measured – the center of gravity height, the torsional stiffness… From the results of the measurements, we decided to improve some aspects of the design, the best example being the weight distribution front to back to make sure we use the tires to their full potential.”

Winner: Kinetic Energy Recovery System - Flybrid/Xtrac/Torotrak

With kinetic energy recovery systems (KERS) due to race in Formula 1 in 2009, development of the hybrid powertrains is already well advanced. The first of the systems to come to light is the flywheel-based KERS of Silverstone, UK-based Flybrid Systems LLP, a company set up for the purpose by partners Jon Hilton and Doug Cross, both of whom formerly held senior positions at Renault F1’s engine division.

Instead of the batteries and electric motors seen in current hybrid production cars like the Toyota Prius, Flybrid’s ground-breaking technology, developed in less than 12 months, uses a flywheel to temporarily store energy gathered when the car brakes, releasing it again when the car accelerates. The flywheel is coupled to the car’s normal gearbox by a continuously variable transmission (CVT) delivered by Xtrac to a Torotrak design.

After patenting innovations to solve problems such as how to seal the vacuum in the flywheel chamber, and how to safely contain a flywheel that spins at 60,000+rpm, plus months of subsystem and safety testing, an entire KERS is due to run for the first time shortly after Professional MotorSport World Expo 2007.

Its creators hope the program will bear fruit for mainstream applications too, such as road cars and buses. “We’re already in serious discussions with several companies and it looks really good,” says Jon Hilton. “We’ve done simulations of how much fuel we can save and it’s a stunning amount. We also see no good reason why it wouldn’t be quite a lot cheaper than an electric hybrid solution for a road car.”

Winner: Christian Loriaux, Ford/M-Sport

As technical director of the BP Ford World Rally Team, Loriaux was responsible for the most successful World Rally Cars of 2007: the Ford Focus RS WRC 07 and its closely related predecessor, the ’06.

Loriaux joined the team in December 2001. The experienced Belgian heads the 15-strong engineering department responsible for the development of the Focus RS World Rally Cars at M-Sport, based in Cockermouth, UK.

Loriaux’s motorsport career started in 1991 when he joined Banbury-based Prodrive as a design engineer. He became chief engineer there in 1998, and was responsible for the Subaru Impreza WRC that took the late Richard Burns to the world title in 2001. His decision to join Ford was regarded as a major coup for the squad; his first car for the team was the radical and highly praised 2003 Focus RS WRC.

Winner: Roger Penske, Penske Racing

While some gasoline-powered sports prototypes struggled to stay with the LMP1 Audis in the American Le Mans Series, legendary team owner Roger Penske’s squad, running LMP2 Porsche RS Spyders, was fighting at the front – and winning.

The story began back in 1958, when Penske drove his first official race in the SCCA National at Marlboro Motor Raceway in Maryland. After running second, his car overheated, but he was victorious at Lime Rock in 1959, driving an F-Modified Porsche RS. That nameplate would make a re-appearance in late 2005, when Penske Racing first raced an RS Spyder in ALMS.

Penske Racing and Team Penske was first launched in 1966, after Penske himself had announced his retirement as a driver and bought a Chevrolet dealership in Philadelphia. In its second year of competition, Penske Racing won the United States Road Racing Championship (USRRC), with driver Mark Donohue in a Lola T70 Mk.III chassis with Chevrolet power.

Numerous victories and championships followed, including the first race win in Champ Car (1970); Penske’s first Indy 500 (1972); its first NASCAR victory (1973); a sole Formula 1 Grand Prix triumph (John Watson, Austria, 1976); six Champ Car points championships in seven years (1977-83); 12 Champ Car wins from 16 starts, plus the title, in 1994; a 100th Champ Car race win (Gil de Ferran, Nazareth, 2000); and an IRL championship (Sam Hornish Jr., 2006).

Picture credit: © 2006 EXLEY-Foto, inc.