Case Study
At the top of the Indy game
Andretti Green Racing
Andretti Green Racing celebrates 5 years of success and looks to extend the winning combination of drivers, cars, support crew and design software - NX
- Andretti Green Racing is constantly fine-tuning eight Indy cars to the requirements of the four different drivers and many different tracks. Many modifications involve parts that must be fabricated in days.
Fine-tuning for optimum performance
Success in Indy car racing isn’t just about having great drivers and fast cars. A combination of factors, many of them behind the scenes, must come together seamlessly on race day. For each event, the race car must be configured for optimal handling on that particular race track. It must also be set up according to the preferences of the driver. “If the driver isn’t comfortable in the car, he won’t go fast,” says Scott Graves, director of engineering at Andretti Green Racing. “He can’t be thinking about any aspect of the car. Driving has to come naturally.”
For a multi-car team such as Andretti Green Racing, that means continual fine-tuning of eight cars each week (a primary car and a backup car for each of the team’s four drivers). Although IndyCar Series rules limit the modifications, engineers have quite a bit of leeway in areas such as the suspension. Fine-tuning these areas often means designing and fabricating new parts in the brief interval between races. For example, engineers might decide that one car needs a faster motion ratio on the suspension rocker, the bell crank that operates the suspension damper. They can’t go out and buy that part. It has to be fabricated in house. And if they hope to use it for the next race, it may have to be created in just a few days. Multiply this example by up to eight (for each of the cars) and you get an idea of the challenges facing Andretti Green Racing’s support crew.
Working digitally for super-fast turnaround
The key to fabricating parts at this rapid pace is NX, digital product development software that Andretti Green Racing adopted a decade ago. NX is a key to the racing success that Andretti Green Racing has experienced in the last decade. “We buy the cars from Dallara and the engines from Honda, but we can still make hundreds of modifications,” says Graves. “We might create an entirely new suspension, for instance, and that work is done in NX.”
When new parts are needed, usually for performance enhancements but also because some parts wear out, the original part geometry (from the manufacturer) is imported into NX.Working in solids in NX is “excellent in terms of ease of use,” says Graves, who does most of the modeling. “The software allows me to create and modify models very quickly.” After the original design has been modified the new geometry, a solid model, is transferred to the team’s shop. There the NX data is used to create the CNC program that fabricates the new part. “Sometimes we can get this whole process done overnight and have the new part bolted onto the car the next day,” Graves says.
NX is part of a winning combination
Andretti Green Racing has established itself once again as the winningest team in IndyCar Series history.With four full-time Honda-powered IndyCar Series entries and one Indy Pro Series car, Andretti Green Racing is not only the most successful team ever, it is also the biggest.
Founded in 2003, Andretti Green recently celebrated their five-year anniversary that has included three IndyCar Series championships (2004, 2005 and 2007) and two Indianapolis 500 wins as well, in 2005 and 2007. Andretti Green won its 30th IndyCar Series event on June 3, 2007 – an unprecedented number of league victories – and continues to establish a new IndyCar Series mark with every trip to victory lane.
In addition to its IndyCar Series program, Andretti Green expanded into the American Le Mans Series with Acura in 2007 and made an immediate impact, capturing an historic class win at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.
The other reason for Andretti Green Racing’s success is that it has “gotten the combination just right.” Graves explains that this year all the pieces are falling together perfectly – cars, engines and drivers as well as the engineers and mechanics behind the scenes. “And one of those pieces is NX,” he says. “Without this software, it would be very difficult to set up all the cars exactly as we want them, week after week. NX is key to our ability to configure the cars for each race.”
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Challenges:
- Tune cars to drivers’ preferences and track conditions
- Address hundreds of part modifications throughout racing season
- Design and fabricate individual parts in days
Keys To Success:
- Import original part geometry into NX™ software
- Modify part as an NX solid model
- Send NX geometry to machine shop for CNC production
Results:
- Extremely rapid modifications to cars, in a day or less if needed
- Cars are configured for optimum speed
- AGR drivers have won three IndyCar Series championships and two Indianapolis 500s since 2004
Industry:
- Automotive & Transportation
Client's Primary Business:
Andretti Green Racing, owned by partners Michael Andretti, Kim Green and Kevin Savoree, competes in the IndyCar Series with drivers Marco Andretti, Danica Patrick, Tony Kanaan and Hideki Mutoh.
Business Initiatives:
- Production Efficiency
Solutions/Services:
- NX
Client Location:
Indianapolis, Indiana
United States
"NX allows our engineering group to make improvements in car design for performance and reliability, and cuts down the amount of time it takes to accomplish those things. It provides us with tools to create optimal designs, which ultimately gives us an edge over the competition. And in the IndyCar Series, we have to look for any advantage we can find."
Michael Andretti
CEO
Andretti Green Racing
"NX is valuable to this team because it allows us to quickly implement changes that fine-tune our cars to each driver and each track."
Scott Graves
Director of Engineering
Andretti Green Racing