Silicon Valley Nation: The hairy edge of engineering at 150 mph

Engineering at speed

Two things struck me in the next minute or so as Andretti tore through the winding course 2.30-mile course. First off, the engineering team rides in those cars everytime they hit the track. Engineers and the driver are attached at the hip (figuratively), and their collaboration has created astonishing achievements.

I first saw this last summer in Wisconsin when we spent time with chief engineer Jay O'Connell of the Rahal Letterman Lanigan racing team. Yes, the cars feedback a constant stream of data to engineers during practice and racing, but the human feedback is key as well. No doubt Andretti felt things I was clueless about as we twisted, turned, surge forward in deceleration and were yanked back entering straight-aways. And drivers spend hours feeding that back to engineers to fine-tune their million-dollar rides.

That a car travelling at such high rates of speed can accelerate and decelerate instantly and corner like it's just an extension of the pavement was no surprise in the abstract, but to experience it is to appreciate the math, the mechanics and the elegance of automotive design. On the straightaways yowling along with the world blurring by, my helmet would tip back. I'd pull it back down. I immediately thought of Mike Held, a mechanical engineer I met at the Indy 500 this year. He helped solve this problem and got himself a spot in the Indy engineering hall of fame.

How can they do it?
The second thing is I discovered is that I don't understand how race drivers can do it for two or three hours. The pounding and tension heaped on the body is astonishing. When it was over, I eased out of Andretti's car, and my legs felt as if I'd just ended a 15-mile uphill bike ride at altitude. (In fact, before I even got into the car I noticed Andretti, having just come in from another "hot lap," was a panting a little in the driver's seat. He's 72).

Race car drivers not athletes? I'll call B.S.

This amazing ride and revelation came as part of the Littelfuse Speed2Design program (we were with them in May at the Indianapolis 500), a promotion that brings contest-winning engineers out to various Indy Car races to talk tech with the engineers from the team they, Mouser and other tech companies sponsor: KV Racing Technology. (Of the three team drivers, Rubens Barichello finished fourth in the race on Sunday, while Tony Kanaan (team co-owner) and  E.J. Viso placed 10th and 16th respectively).

At Indy we talked a lot about the driver-engineer relationship, and having the chance to understand that in a crouch, holding on for dear life behind Mario Andretti at 150 mph really brought it home. In the next few days, I'll post a story about the video interview I had with two-time Indianapolis champ Arie Luyendyk (pictured in the red shirt in the photo to the right) moments after I took my helmet off.

I got a chance with Luyendyk to ask him some questions about the engineering-driver relationship, and his answers were intriguing.

Related stories:
--Dream engineering job?
--The consequences of tight engineering rules
-- Indy 500: KV Racing's tech director talks track
--Limiting innovation
--Speed@Design site