Instrumentation Monthly Test | Measurement | Control
In March of 2017, Physical Digital announced that they had joined forces with the highly successful West Surrey Racing team as a technical sponsor for the 2017 British Touring Car Championship season. Following a very thrilling and successful season for West Surrey Racing, the Physical Digital team reflect on the partnership.
Since its foundation in 1981, WSR has gained a formidable reputation as one of Europe’s most successful racing teams and since joining the BTCC series back in 1996, have enjoyed triumphs across the board, including their most recent double success with Team BMW winning both the Manufacturer’s title and the Team Title.
At the beginning of the season, Physical Digital were pleased to be asked to scan the BMW engine and throughout the season have completed a number of other projects in conjunction with West Surrey Racing. Physical Digital’s high-accuracy and high-resolution 3D Optical scanning has helped aid the continuous development and improvements made to the Team BMW 125iM Sport cars, a car of their own design and built specifically for the BTCC.
Physical Digital’s director Tim Rapley set up Physical Digital in 2005 in response to the requirement from automotive and aerospace firms for highly-accurate measurement data. With the use of our invaluable tools and software packages such as Siemens NX, many global organisations have come to rely on the outstanding service and high-quality data delivered by the expert team at Physical Digital for projects where reliability, accuracy and trace-ability are crucial.
Following the success of the season, Tim Rapley commented: “It has been a fantastic opportunity for Physical Digital to partner with West Surrey Racing and to assist the team with their measurement projects throughout the 2017 BTCC season. As a company, we pride ourselves on being able to offer the very best service for 3D optical measurement. Being involved with a team of this calibre has given us a fantastic hands-on insight into the rigorous testing and measurement that is required to support the ongoing development of the cars, but also the time-critical nature that comes with being part of such a fast-paced championship and reactive team. We have enjoyed being involved in the preparation, attending the races and showing our support to the team and look forward to working with West Surrey Racing in the coming months as they prepare for the 2018 BTCC season.”
Dick Bennetts, team principal said: “We were really grateful to have Tim and his team at Physical Digital join us as a new technical partner at the end of the 2016 BTCC season. With WSR switching to BMW’s new B48, 2 litre turbo engine for the 2017 BTCC season, the 3D optical scanning saved us approximately 14-16 days of work. Our engineers were very impressed with the accuracy and efficiency of the optical scanning achieved, as were our engine development partner, NBE.”
