Richard Childress Racing Selects Altair HyperWorks to Optimize Its NASCAR Sprint Cup Racecars
Engineers seek to reduce weight of racecar to enhance performance, decrease lap times
TROY, Mich., - October 13, 2010 – Altair Engineering, Inc., a leading global provider of technology and services that empower innovation and decision-making, announced today that
Richard Childress Racing (RCR) is now using HyperWorks computer-aided engineering (CAE) tools for the design and optimization of its NASCAR Sprint Cup racecars.
At NASCAR’s top level of Motorsport, the Sprint Cup Series, engineers work diligently to make incremental improvements in the performance of the racecar. Reductions in lap time on the order of 0.1 second are considered very significant.
Relative stability in NASCAR’s specification of the Sprint Cup racecar has led RCR engineers to examine and optimize every aspect and component of the vehicle to achieve performance gains. Each component of a racecar must be designed to survive the rigors of the sport, but at minimal weight.
“We needed a comprehensive solution to facilitate this design-optimization process,” said Dr. Kent Day, technical director for RCR. “The advanced meshing capabilities and optimization tools that HyperWorks offers are unparalleled in the industry.”
RCR also recognized the benefit that HyperWorks provides with its open architecture, which allows for seamless integration with third-party software for highly automated product design processes. At RCR, HyperWorks integrates with PTC Pro/ENGINEER
®, a 3D computer-aided design software product, to provide a comprehensive solution for RCR’s design group.
“Another benefit of Altair’s HyperWorks is the licensing structure that allows us to use all of the tools available without having to buy additional modules for specific applications,” said Day. “We are also impressed with Altair’s HyperWorks Partner Alliance, which offers easy access to a broad range of third-party vendor tools that work in harmony with the HyperWorks suite. This enables us to be very flexible and adopt the software tools needed to solve a problem at hand without additional cost.”
About Richard Childress Racing
Richard Childress Racing (
http://www.rcrracing.com) has earned more than 180 victories and 12 NASCAR championships, including six in the Sprint Cup Series with the legendary Dale Earnhardt. RCR was the first organization to win championships in the Sprint Cup Series, Nationwide Series and Camping World Truck Series. Its 2010 Sprint Cup Series lineup includes Kevin Harvick (No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet), Jeff Burton (No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet) and Clint Bowyer (No. 33 Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet). Bowyer drives the No. 21 Zaxby’s Chevrolet in the 2010 Nationwide Series, Austin Dillon drives the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet in the 2010 Camping World Truck Series and Tim George Jr. drives the No 31 RCR Development Chevrolet in the 2010 ARCA Racing Series presented by RE/MAX and Menards. Ty Dillon and Ryan Gifford are RCR developmental drivers in both asphalt and dirt-track racing.
About HyperWorks
Built on a foundation of design optimization, performance data management and process automation, HyperWorks is an enterprise simulation solution for rapid design exploration and decision-making. As the most comprehensive, open-architecture CAE solution in the industry, HyperWorks includes best-in-class modeling, analysis, visualization and data management solutions for linear and non-linear, structural optimization, fluid-structure interaction and multi-body dynamics applications. For more information, please visit
http://www.altairhyperworks.com.
About Altair (Nasdaq: ALTR)
Altair is a global technology company that provides software and cloud solutions in the areas of product development, high performance computing (HPC) and data analytics. Altair enables organizations across broad industry segments to compete more effectively in a connected world while creating a more sustainable future. To learn more, please visit
http://www.altair.com.