Toro Rosso: STAR-CCM+ Gives You (More Aerodynamic) Wings

New York, London and Faenza, June 8, 2009

 

CD-adapco is pleased to announce that, after extensive evaluation, Italian Formula One Team Scuderia Toro Rosso has chosen STAR-CCM+ as their simulation tool for the aerodynamic design of their racing cars.

Since their Formula One debut in 2006, Scuderia Toro Rosso have proved themselves one of the brightest new teams in Formula One, scoring a maiden victory in the 2008 Italian GP, on the way to securing sixth place overall in the 2008 Constructor’s Championship. One of the principal aims of the team is to discover and nurture new driving talent through their Young Driver Program, the most successful graduate of which is German driver Sebastian Vettel who became the youngest driver ever to win a Grand Prix in his two successful years with the team.

Until the 2009 season, Toro Rosso cars were designed by Red Bull Technology, however a move to more independence from their sister team facilitated the need for greater on-site CFD capability at the team’s Faenza base. After benchmarking a number of different CFD software products, Scuderia Toro Rosso adopted the STAR-CCM+ solution. Ing. Nicolò Petrucci, head of aerodynamics for Scuderia Toro Rosso explains:

“Formula 1 has always been the pinnacle of automotive technological development, throughout the year we are constantly working to squeeze more performance out the car and to do this we need the best engineers and the best tools. Having reviewed the available options, it was obvious that STAR-CCM+ represented the best solution on the market.”

“We chose STAR-CCM+, not only because of CD-adapco’s pedigree in the automotive sector, but also due to the innovative and advanced nature of the tool. STAR-CCM+’s automated meshing technology really is second to none and the speed at which we could mesh and analyze new designs was a revelation. The software is extremely easy to use with an intuitive user interface, quite a change from when I first saw CFD in F1 in 1989!”

CD-adapco is the leading supplier of Computational Fluid Dynamics software to Formula One.  For the 2009 season, almost every car on the Formula One grid is designed using either STAR-CCM+ for aerodynamics and thermal management, or STAR-CD for engine simulation. CD-adapco’s director for the automotive industry, Dr. Richard Johns explains:

“Scuderia Toro Rosso have demonstrated the fact that STAR-CCM+ is the aerodynamic code of choice for the Formula One grid. In an industry where speed is king in every sense, STAR-CCM+ uniquely allows teams to significantly reduce analysis turnaround time, through the automatic preparation and meshing of car geometries, without any sacrifice in accuracy. The unique STAR-CCM+ power session license, allows our users access to an unlimited number  of processors for modest cost”