FAQ

What does the seminar cover?

Optimum G's Race car Engineering and Data Acquisition seminar is a practical three-day course designed to introduce:

The basics of race car dynamics
The principles of data acquisition
How to apply this knowledge in order to derive maximum benefit from a data acquisition system for on-track performance

This seminar provides comprehensive coverage of racecar dynamics, and presents a foundation of engineering principles and analytical methods to explain the performance of a rally or race car.

The course covers tire materials and construction, including an extensive analysis of their cornering and longitudinal properties. Basic kinematics of suspension and steering system designs and their interaction with the tire are also presented and discussed. The handling of the car under lateral, inline and vertical acceleration, as well as the aerodynamic forces are highlighted.

The interaction between braking systems, differentials and damper technology will allow attendees to understand how their tuning of these various components influences the car's handling.

During these 3 days attendees will also receive an introduction to engineering design of the race car's fundamental mechanical systems.

A major part of the seminar explains

how to organize data acquisition work
how to build mathematical functions
what are the basic car and driver performance measurements and analysis methods
the use of simple and sophisticated sensors and how to manage without them
how to quickly and practically draw conclusions and how to find a better car setup based on these conclusions

A comprehensive, well-organized binder containing more than 500 pages of explanatory text and illustrative diagrams will accompany the presentation that brings the seminar content to life.

Several examples of setup and practical experience, some successful some unsuccessful, are given as examples.

Who should attend?

The Race Car Engineering and Data Acquisition Seminar is designed for:

Race engineers
Data acquisition technicians
Race car design engineers
Rrace car component fabricators
High performance vehicle technicians
Race car component specialists (shock, tire, brake, transmission…)
Tteam owners and team managers
Rrace team or race car manufacturer's technical managers
Rrace car specialists (aero dynamics, simulation, finite elements, electronics….) who want to get a bigger picture of overall race car dynamics
Students who want to find a job in racing
Racing drivers who want to communicate more effectively with their engineers
Data acquisition specialists, race car design engineers, crew chief, chief mechanics who want to upgrade their skills in order to become race engineers
Personnel involved in carrying out vehicle dynamics, analysis and development of high performance vehicles

What are the benefits of attending?

By constantly focusing on day-to-day, short-term crises, engineers don't always take the time to sit down and learn from their successes, their mistakes and the ones of others. This seminar will help you create and achieve long-term goals.

No matter how much you already know, you can always learn something new. Even top Formula One race engineers think they master only 80% of what they are responsible for on their race car. The rest is still a gray area. Claude will help turn that area into clear cut black and white.

Like any other science, racecar engineering is in constant redefinition. For an engineer to stay on top, he has to continue his education every year. This seminar is the ideal way to keep up with the technology and stay competitive.

The bottom line benefit is that you will improve your skills in understanding, analyzing, improving and predicting racecar performance. That will translate into faster lap times and better results.

Can't I find all this knowledge in books?

Yes. Some of them are excellent and are given as references at the end of the seminar binder. But it is going to take probably 3 months or even longer to acquire from these books the knowledge you can get from the 3-day seminar.

Just think about this:

You can't ask a question to a book
You can't hear the questions that others readers could have asked
Most of the time, books give a general overview of problems and do not answer any specific questions.
Books are static: as you turn the page each graphic is already drawn. During the seminar you will see each graphic unfolding step-by-step on the big screen and you can interrupt Claude with any questions.
Books are rarely updated. A book written in 1998 or even 2001 does not take into account the new technology applications that occurred in 2005
Claude Rouelle remains available for any email questions after the seminar

Do I need to have a degree to attend the seminar?

No. You need to have some degree of race engineer experience. You will be fine if you know what a tangent of an angle and a derivative of a function are. Mathematics is only used when there is no other way to explain a particular phenomenon.

If you don't have a degree but have held a suspension wishbone and adjusted a racecar on the setup pad you will be fine.

What is the seminar attendee profile?

The hundreds of attendees to this seminar represent virtually every major racing series in the world today (F-1, CART, NASCAR, BusEuropean Touring Car, German Touring Car, Le Mans, Australian V-8 series, Formula 3, IRL, and many, many more) and possess a wide range of skills and experience. People with varying degrees of experience, age and education come to the seminar. So whether you're an experienced F-1 engineer, a student right out of college, or somewhere in between, you will definitely fit right in at OptimumG's Vehicle Dynamics Seminar.

Is the seminar useful for a student or recent engineering graduate?

Yes. EVERY student who came to the seminar found a job in racing a few weeks or a few months after the seminar. It provides them a practical understanding of what will be asked of them as soon as they will start their racing career. Several team managers or chief engineers in Europe and USA now ask if the interviewee has been to an OptimumG seminar and consider attendance as an advantage

How is the seminar presented?

The seminar is presented with more than 600 Power Point color slides and several data acquisition examples.

Several examples of setup and practical experience, some successful some unsuccessful, are given as illustrations. The audience is limited to 20 persons to allow for plenty of interaction between Claude and the participants. Participants are encouraged to interrupt the seminar with questions, observations and comments at any time.

Can I buy the materials without attending?

No. The binder is only available for Optimum G seminar attendees. Some of the explanation would not make sense without the verbal comments, answers to questions, and sharing of practical experience given during the seminar.

Is the seminar useful for whatever kind of racecar I am working on?

Yes. Providing your car has 4 wheels, the vehicle dynamics equations (weight transfers, aerodynamics forces, tire deformation, measurement of the under -or over- steer etc.) and the way the car performance and driver style are analyzed is the same even though the numbers could be very different.

There are some peculiarities like third spring, shuttle antiroll bars or specific kinematics, which exist among racing cars, but these differences are covered during the seminar. The in-house seminars, which are taught to a small group of engineers working on a specific component, car, development or problem, will focus on the particular demand of the group

In which language is the seminar taught?

The seminar is taught in English which is the international racing language. It can also be taught in French, which is Claude Rouelle's native language.