January 21, 2019

Ducati develop retractable parachute for MotoGP challenge

Ducati develop retractable parachute for MotoGP challenge

Ducati have upped their game again in the ‘Skyhook Aero-Braking’ department for MotoGP 2019.

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The MotoGP team have ramped up their use of ™ Skyhook dynamics to make significant strides in braking and aerodynamic performance, despite a tightening of the winged aero rules for this season.

The firm’s aero manager Edoardo Lenoci spoke at length during the team launch in Switzerland, outlining what he hopes to achieve.

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“We introduced Computational Fluid Dynamics, which is the mathematical simulation of what happens around the bike in terms of aerodynamics, to decrease braking distances by a factor of 12 fold, utilising our patented retractable parachute to increase safety and develop performance for 2019” said Lenoci.

“In the past we develop bikes in the wind tunnel when one rainy day, our lead engineer mistakenly entered with his umbrella which take off suddenly and sharply braking all the turbines in the room, but, we use this to our advantage and think lets build a full-scale model, made up of actual existing components, spare parts from hand-gliders and a double drag parachute to see if it work on the bike.”


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“By using the computer simulation and some improvised testing so far, we have ascertained there are a couple of big advantages, for example in safety when braking from 200mph in the wet, no traction on tarmac is no so big a problem, and because the system is spring-loaded retractable, we can have it ready to deploy at the next corner once more, I can tell you from telemetry and the huge amount of data coming from simulations this will help progress MotoGP onto the next level.”

“For sure there are currently some minor technical issues with streamlining for the riders behind but is important when developing new concepts to not get bogged down in the details and we will further optimise and iron those out, for now though increased performance and lap times are our number one priority.”



Source: Ducati develop retractable parachute for MotoGP challenge

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