Have you ever experienced serendipity in your work? That moment when a challenge unexpectedly presents itself, and you stumble upon a solution that you never would have thought of otherwise? Well, that’s exactly what happened in this project.
When the Mexico City F1 track was reintroduced in 2015, Formula One teams faced a unique challenge. The track’s altitude, at 2285 meters above sea level, meant that engines needed to be tested in low ambient pressure conditions similar to those at the race track.
This created a host of challenges for the engine, particularly on the intake and exhaust sides. The challenge was to simulate this low ambient pressure environment in an engine-testing rig. But how do you do that?
The team considered using a vacuum chamber, but quickly realized that wasn’t practical. Then, someone suggested fitting an air-mover around the tail-pipe exit – essentially, a device like a ‘Dyson fan’, but much stronger. The idea was that it would lower the pressure encountered by exhaust flow as it exits the tailpipe.
But when they tested this solution in CFD, they found that it had very little effect. That’s when the challenge came to us.
Have you ever been working on a project and hit a wall? You’ve tried everything you can think of, but you’re just not making progress? That’s exactly where we were with this project.
We needed to simulate low ambient pressure conditions in an engine-testing rig, but the air-mover concept we had tried just wasn’t having the desired impact. We were at a loss for what to do next.
But then, something unexpected happened. We made a small cosmetic change to tidy up the set-up, not expecting any aerodynamic benefit – and the results surprised us. It turned out that we had missed a very obvious solution that was right in front of our eyes.
That’s when things started to look up. We can’t discuss the device we designed, but let’s just call it the ‘Mexico Trumpet’. When fitted to the test-rig, it dropped the air-pressure to ten times lower than what could be achieved before!
It just goes to show that sometimes, the answers we’re looking for are hiding in plain sight. We just need to be open to unexpected solutions and willing to try new things. Even a small cosmetic change can make all the difference. So, the next time you’re feeling stuck, take a step back, look around, and see what you might be missing. The solution could be right in front of you.
Through a combination of an air-mover and a device we affectionately called the ‘Mexico Trumpet’, we were able to achieve 60% of our target reduction in ambient pressure. This was enough for the engine designers to assess the impact of low-ambient pressure on engine performance.
But what’s truly remarkable about this project is how quickly we were able to go from concept to serendipitous discovery to engine testing – just six weeks! That’s thanks to the amazing collaboration between the design, manufacturing, and testing teams.
This project was a fantastic lesson in keeping an open mind and trying out different things when it comes to innovation and discovery. And the best part? The ‘unique device’ we created was significantly cheaper and quicker to produce than the alternatives. It just goes to show that sometimes, the most unexpected solutions can also be the most efficient and cost-effective.
