RACE ENGINEERING

The race or car engineer is mostly known as the person talking with drivers via radio, but to “race engineer” a car means indeed far more than that. Some of the duties are: ​Run planning, Fuel and tyre management, Final decisions regarding setup depending on driver statements and logged race car data, Radio communication and control as well as Strategy. In addition, the race engineer needs to be able to adapt and react to any type of situation using his experience and knowledge. As first contact person for the drivers, he or she needs to understand and identify their needs as well as the race car itself to improve overall performance. The race engineer is the leading engineer responsible for the race car, but also its car crew and therefore has to give the direction as well as solving problems and motivate them.

RPE has years of professional experience and is therefore able to offer the full package of race engineering which includes to run the race car overall at race or test events involving car, setup, stategy and crew management.

PERFORMANCE ENGINEERING

The work of a performance engineer is mostly in the support of the race or car engineer. As he or she does not have to organise and lead the race car and crew, the performance engineer can spend his or her time entirely to deeply analyse the race car and drivers using their comments in addition to the logged race car data and onboard video looking for possible areas of improvements. Chassis evaluation making suggestions to the race engineer in terms of possible setup changes to enhance overall performance (mechanically, aerodynamically), Tyre behaviour and best usage (pressures, temperatures), Driver performance analysis looking for possible improvements as well as monitoring of key performance indicators (KPI) are main duties of a performance engineer. In addition, he or she is often involved in the development or further improvement of engineering tools like spreadsheets, data analysis workbooks using math-channels, laptime / chassis simulation or strategy.

​RPE offers the full package of senior level performance engineering having years of successful track records and knowledge.

DATA / SYSTEMS ENGINEERING

The data / systems engineer works hand-in-hand with the performance and race engineer making primarily sure, that the car runs reliable in terms of its electrical systems like for instance sensors, data logging and telemetry if present. Additionally, he or she assists the performance engineer to analyse logged race car data using state of the art skills to identify driver and car issues.

RPE is proficient in various data recording systems and analysis tools and therefore able to offer the full package of data engineering.

DRIVER COACHING

The driver is the human factor in the chain of extracting the minimum laptime out of a race car. To understand which inputs he or she must give when and how to get maximum performance out of the race car is crucial when looking for each tenths, hundreds and thousands of a second seeking for success. How to determine the fastest racing line, teaching driving techniques (vehicle inputs) and help him or her to understand the basic physics behind those using logged data and onboard video, organise and prepare him or her mentally as well as physically for each event are just a few tasks of a driver coach.

​Due to own professional racing experience, RPE can offer the full package of driver coaching trackside or during simulator sessions. In addition, RPE offeres two webinar / online courses specifically for drivers.

CONSULTANCY & PRE-EVENT ANALYSIS & WEBINARS

Theoretical knowledge together with years of professional experience in various fields makes RPE a reliable partner to support and advice engineering or entire motorsport projects from start over testing / development until trackside racing. Also, we can support or take over the development of engineering or analysis tools, spreadsheets or workbooks looking after performance gains and laptime for your success on track.

Pre-/Post-event analysis including vehicle sensitivity studies (weight, downforce, grip, etc) and evaluation of previous events as well as chassis performance analysis (mechanically, aerodynamically), driver performance evaluation, setup and its adjustment are just some topics where reports can be offered for.

RPE does currently offer two webinars / online courses:

  • “Basic Course in Race Car Data Analysis for Drivers”
  • “Advanced Course in Race Car Data Analysis for Drivers”