Delta is delighted to have been chosen by the FIA Institute for Safety to carry out a program of research into a spate of accidents involving “Le Mans Prototype” race cars. Over the course of the 2008 season many cars were involved in accidents that involved them spinning. Nothing unusual there, surely? Except that when sideways, a number of cars then lifted off the ground, without any further outside assistance. Two such accidents involved Stephan Ortelli at Monza and Marc Gene at Le Mans, and in both cases the drivers were lucky to survive, let alone race again shortly afterwards.

The first phase of the project will involve analysis of the aerodynamic characteristics of open- and closed-cockpit “LMP” cars across a range of extreme attitudes using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). The resulting aerodynamic “map” will then be fed into a multi-body dynamic simulation, along with a range of other vehicle parameters (mass, inertia, suspension and tyre characteristics and many others).

Working with an FIA-organised Technical Working Group of the sport’s major constructors, we will then model and test a variety of devices in an effort to reduce the likelihood of this type of accident. We are working closely with our partners Totalsim on the CFD analysis, and Intec Dynamics on the multi-body dynamic analysis.

The conclusion of Delta’s work resulted in regulation changes that will be enforced by the categories governing body for the 2011 season.

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