Voxdale and Conquest Racing in Top Gear for 2009

Conquest Racing is pleased to announce that it has renewed its technical partnership with Voxdale, a design and engineering firm based in Belgium, for the 2009 IndyCar Series season. The partnership consists of providing Conquest Racing with a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) development program which will help them better understand the Dallara chassis.

"With our first CFD steps, in early August 2007, we saw the car evolving to the front of the field by the end of last season in Champ Car," explained Eric Bachelart, Conquest Racing team owner.

"We were however left with a lot of redundant data after the switch to the Dallara chassis when we joined the IndyCar Series this year. Knowing what technology Voxdale is capable of, we’re eager to get an efficient development program on track with them for next season."

Computational Fluid Dynamics, or CFD, represents a method of describing the interaction of fluid flow and surfaces by solving mathematical equations using computers. An object is scanned or modeled and then broken down into a ‘mesh’ of millions of ‘nodes’. Using massive amounts of computing power, equations applied to these nodes can be solved to determine the flow patterns around and through a surface and the forces acting on it.

In industry and science, CFD is used to analyze flow on any scale - from the cooling air around a microchip to the migration pattern of CO2 emissions over a large city. In the high-tech world of Indycar racing, where cars exceed 220 mph, airflow around the car plays a key role in performance. Maximizing the aerodynamics is what separates the front runners from the rest of the field, which makes Indycar racing a perfect application for this exciting technology.

With Voxdale’s CFD expertise, Conquest Racing will not only better understand the Dallara chassis it will also optimize it for the many different venues that the team races on.

"Once again, we’re convinced that Voxdale’s expertise in design, development and simulation will be the perfect addendum to the Conquest Racing development program. We’re very excited and are committed to deliver," expressed Koen Beyers, Managing Director of Voxdale.

Although the partnership is slated to help the team with its on-track performance next season, Voxdale and Conquest Racing have already started implementing the new program after Voxdale personnel spent a couple of days at the Indianapolis shop following the Chicagoland race in order to scan the Conquest Dallara chassis and get things started for 2009.

Voxdale, based in Antwerp , Belgium , is a design and engineering firm that provides innovative concepts and mechanical design solutions to a wide range of industrial sectors. Voxdale’s expertise in structural and thermal analysis is internationally recognized, as the firm is now a strategic partner of satellite suppliers and space systems to ESA and NASA.

Besides its space activities, Voxdale is offering its innovative capacity to racing teams, yacht designers, the medical sector, the electronics industry and Geo-Engineering. 

-Karina Redmond -  photo Conquest Racing