Conquering the Winds

The thrill of any motorsports race comes from watching the drivers engage in a high-speed battle for racing superiority. But, there is another invisible race taking place to achieve more speed. It is a race to “perfect the aerodynamics”, conquering the air itself to allow a car to reach new heights in speed and control.

Shaped by Lexus motorsport programs

Lexus Motorsport: A global aerodynamics laboratoryWind tunnels: Car design sees the light

Regular road cars are built primarily for safety and comfort, but they’re not a million miles apart from their race car cousins built for the track. The speeds they attain and the distances they cover may not be in the same league, but there’s a common enemy standing in the way between them and their final destination, whether it’s a touring stop or the chequered flag: air. This is why “the conquering of the winds” is one of the most important factors in car design and a key issue in automotive research and development.

So where does this research to master the wind take place? One arena is the world of motorsports—and there is no more extreme example than GT3, where manufacturers’ stock cars, run by customer teams with a wealth of experience, compete on closed courses.

The AKKODIS ASP Team based in Toulouse in the south of France is one such customer motorsport team, and they’re competing in the LMGT3 category of the FIA World Endurance Championship. The “weapon” the AKKODIS ASP Team has chosen to take into battle at the WEC is the Lexus RC F GT3. The beating heart of this magnificent beast—the naturally aspirated 5.4 liter V8—is based on the power unit in the Lexus RC F road car. In fact, the GT3 version was conceived as part of a mission to create a stable, high-performance race car that drew on the RC F road car’s fundamental characteristics and features. But “the conquering of the winds” has demanded upgraded aerodynamics for race performance as well as a lightweight, full carbon-fibre body.

Lexus’s debut at the highest levels of international motorsports was in 2002. That was at the legendary 24 Hours of Daytona in Florida. In more than 20 years since, Lexus cars have continued to be deployed by both manufacturer and customer teams. The latter puts customers behind the wheel of the leading-edge racing machines to have an exceptional driving experience, through which they can become their true self. These customer drivers are backed by their team like Lexus all the way on their journey to develop phenomenal driving skills.

Building on racing experience, battling it out against other teams, amassing knowledge and data—naturally all of this has shaped the development of the Lexus RC F GT3. The car has taken part in—among many other races—the ultimate U.S. race event, the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, since 2017 and has delivered incredible results including a series champion with a U.S. customer team.

Lexus Motorsport: A global aerodynamics laboratory

Shaped by Lexus motorsport programsWind tunnels: Car design sees the light

A rocky landscape, shaped by millennia of winds blowing over it, is a mesmerizing sight—just as there is beauty to behold in the finely tuned form of a racing car, streamlined to perfection over a long period of time to minimize drag.

Perhaps this aesthetic quality is the greatest benefit that wind tunnel-based aerodynamic research has brought to the racing car.

But the truth is, it’s not just wind tunnels. Every motorsport race—held on various circuits around the world in all imaginable conditions—also plays a pivotal role in this research as, for the carmaker like Lexus, the FIA World Endurance Championship is a global “laboratory” for auto development, utilizing a massive amount of data collected from the customer teams taking their road-car-based GT3 machines to the racecources around the world. The result is machines that are fast and packed with features, but above all, things of beauty.

Nevertheless, aerodynamics—the study of how air flows over an object like the streamlined body of a car passing through it—is about more than elegance and fluidity in the automotive form.

Auxiliary parts installed on the body can increase the car’s maximum speed and stability. “Canards,” for example—small wing-like aerodynamic trimmings that affix to the bumper—cause air turbulence that helps transmit heat generated by the brakes to the rear. “Side skirts” affixed under the doors in between the front and rear wheels are used to inhibit air passage to the underside of the vehicle. And “diffusers” attached to the underside and rear of the vehicle generate negative air pressure, and hence downforce, by accelerating air flowing under the car from the front and expelling it rapidly behind.

This is the opposite force to that which gives an aircraft lift, and it helps keep the car in contact with the ground. Diffusers serve the same function in generating downforce as large rear wings, but they increase tire grip to improve cornering speeds and help stabilize steering under full braking from the top speeds attained down the straight.

Conquering the winds is not just about reducing air drag to increase the car’s maximum speed for Lexus. It’s also about improving its cooling abilities and fuel economy as well as drivability and road comfort by controlling air flow and volume around the car. In fact, aerodynamics contributes a great deal to realizing a stable and comfortable driving experience.

Wind tunnels: Car design sees the light

Shaped by Lexus motorsport programsLexus Motorsport: A global aerodynamics laboratory

The learnings and data amassed from the hundreds of sensors attached to a Lexus racing car competing on the racecourses around the world inform the aerodynamic development of the brand’s road-going cars. In that sense, motor racing really is a global laboratory for automotive development. However, wind tunnels are equally important in utilizing these learnings and making the road cars safer and more comfortable to drive in everyday situations.

Turin, Italy’s capital of auto manufacturing, is home to the headquarters of a certain famous carrozzeria (auto design firm): Pininfarina. The firm has worked for generations on numerous big-name cars, including Ferrari. But perhaps even more interesting is that Pininfarina created one of the very first wind tunnels in the world that is capable of testing full-sized cars.

Aerodynamics has a huge impact on fuel efficiency and driving stability, making it one of the hottest topics in automotive development.

It was the 1973 oil crisis that gave Pininfarina’s wind tunnel its first chance to really shine. Instead of relying on quasi-simulations using miniature models to try to reduce air resistance, this new approach allowed designers to visualize the effects of air flow in far more realistic conditions. At the time, it was nothing short of revolutionary.

In Pininfarina’s words: “Auto design and aerodynamics are inextricably linked.” Taking Ferrari’s road car designs as an example, there is a sea change between the 328 and the Testarossa, with the latter clearly benefiting from the use of the wind tunnel in its conception.

But the role of wind tunnels goes beyond minimizing wind resistance by facilitating the smooth and efficient transition of air over the vehicle. These facilities also allow wind noise to be measured, making them indispensable when it comes to optimizing in-car comfort. With complete control over wind volume and direction, as well as the opportunity to generate turbulence, teams can use wind tunnels to generate measurements that can be leveraged to eliminate features of the exterior design that generate noise.

Not only that, wind tunnels allow designers to study the effects of air disturbance that are caused by a traveling car in the traffic behind it.

Epilogue

“Conquering the winds” is more important than ever in today’s car design—which involves reducing air drag to extend the car’s driving distance as well as increasing its cooling abilities for the batteries—with the accelerating global shift towards electrification of motor vehicles, where people talk of “MPGe” instead of the now almost passé “fuel economy.”

Take Lexus’s own next-generation BEV concept models, the LF-ZC, LF-ZL, and Electrified Sport Concept—now more in the spotlight than ever. To meet new aerodynamic challenges, their exterior designs fuse the knowledge gained from wind tunnels and countless laps around the racecourse with the flexibility that only a BEV can allow. The simple truth can’t be denied: those who conquer the wind will be in pole position for the electric car revolution.

For Lexus, “conquering the winds” goes beyond winning on the racetrack. It’s also about taking the car’s basic capabilities—running, turning, and braking—to next level. For road-going cars, it means superior fuel economy and ride quality. It also means a streamlined form that’s guaranteed to turn heads anywhere—just like an exquisite piece of art or fashion. And finally, it means understanding that these qualities cannot be achieved without both motorsport participation and wind tunnel testing.

EXPLORE MORE

DESIGN SHAPED BY THE WINDS

THE WINDS OF CHANGE IN DESIGNWIND AND DESIGN: A ROAD TRIP ACROSS NORTHERN ITALY

LEXUS MOTORSPORT

DISCOVER LEXUS MOTORSPORT
TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN
DESIGN SHAPED BY THE WINDS
RAISE LEXUS’ ENGINEERING TO THE NEXT LEVEL
THE RACES

Share this article

Next StoryLexus Motorsport