VI-grade helps BMW Team Brasil to optimize their BMW Z4 GT racing cars

Marburg, Aug 29th, 2012 – VI-grade GmbH, the leading provider of best-in-class products and services to bridge the gap between real world testing and technical simulation, today announced that BMW Team Brasil will use VI-Motorsport to optimize the behavior of their BMW Z4 GT racing cars in preparation of the remaining races of the current edition of the Brazilian GT Championship.

In detail, VI-grade will provide to the team its competence and know-how in racing simulation, mapping detailed road models out of telemetry data and thus enabling the racing team to virtually optimize the performance of the vehicle using the VI-Motorsport real-time vehicle simulation software.

“We understood right from the beginning that VI-Motorsport could have helped us in setting up the car in the best way for different tracks, especially on the high demanding circuit of Interlagos where ups and downs and high bank angles make it very challenging to set up the car for the race” says Jean Tavares Horcaio, engineer of BMW Team Brasil. “The successes achieved by VI-grade with VI-Motorsport in different racing categories all around the world further convinced us to rely on this real-time vehicle simulation software. We have now plans to use VI-Motorsport for the entire 2012 season as well as in the development process for 2013 season.”

“Today, we are proud to report our first success in the Brazilian motorsport industry,” says Alvaro Costa Neto, Managing Director, Multicorpos Engenharia. “Brazilians are very passionate about motorsport activities and there are several different race teams, in different categories and championships, that can benefit from the VI-grade simulation software and from the Multicorpos technical expertise. We are looking forward to supporting the local racing industry with our skills and competences in simulation software and services.”

“We are very excited about the collaboration with BMW Team Brasil” says Guido Bairati, Sales Director of VI-grade. “BMW is a great company to work with and Brasil is a very important country for us and for our solutions. We have great plans to increase our presence in this emerging market and we are recently having exciting successes that tell us we have implemented the right strategy. We are looking forward to supporting the success of this team that joins today the community of our customers belonging to the racing industry.”

About VI-Motorsport

VI-Motorsport is a software environment for vehicle modelling and dynamic analysis, which helps race cars designers and track engineers to predict vehicle performance when set-up parameters are modified, before the car is built and also in support of race events. VI-Motorsport is based on a faster-than-real-time simulation solver which can predict the virtual car behaviour and has been extensively validated against test data in various race car series. The VI-Motorsport environment is complemented by the ability to create road data (both drivelines and tire contact profiles) starting either from GPS, laser or telemetry data measurements, or from a fully analytical description. VI-MotorSport will also write out data that is fully compatible with ATLAS from McLaren Electronic Systems, making it simple to integrate with existing tools. Finally VI-grade’s advanced driver model allows users to drive the vehicle model around the specified track. For all those companies involved in the process of finding best vehicle set-up and performance whilst at the same time limiting economic resources, VI- Motorsport is an unprecedented support and a revolutionary aid to the engineering team. VI-Motorsport includes the following software modules: VI-CarRealTime, VI-Road, VI-Tires, VI-Driver, VI-Animator and VI-SuspensionGen.

About BMW Motorsport

BMW M GmbH (previously: BMW Motorsport GmbH) is a subsidiary of German car manufacturer BMW AG. BMW M, also known as M-Technik or just "M" (for Motorsport) was initially created to facilitate BMW’s racing program, which was very successful in the 1960s and 1970s. As time progressed, BMW M began to supplement BMW's vehicles portfolio with specially modified higher trim models, for which they are now most known for to the general public. These M-badged cars traditionally include modified engines, suspensions, interior trims, aerodynamics, and exterior modifications to set them apart from their counterparts. All M models are tested and developed on the Nürburgring. The program for the BMW Z4 GT3 will have an increasingly international flavor to it in the 2012 season: this year, the new BMW Team Brazil will line up in the Brazilian GT Championship (GT Brazil) with two GT3 cars developed by BMW Motorsport. Under the guidance of Team Principal Antonio Hermann (BR), the AH Competições squad will also send two BMW M3 GT4 cars into action in the series. BMW Team Brazil is supported by BMW Brazil. The GT Brazil series was founded in 2007. This year, the calendar includes eight race weekends, with teams contesting two races per event. The curtain-raiser to the season takes place on 18th March 2012 at the “Autódromo José Carlos Pace” in São Paulo (BR). The series returns to the iconic circuit on the outskirts of the metropolis for the season finale on 16th December. The BMW Z4 GT3 will be employed by BMW customer racing teams in numerous championships held in accordance with GT3 regulations, including the FIA GT1 World Championship, the FIA GT3 European Championship and the Blancpain Endurance Series. It will also be used in national championships like the German ADAC GT Masters, the VLN Endurance Championship, the Japanese Super GT, the British, French, Italian, Swedish and Brazilian GT championships, and the 24-hour classics at the Nürburgring-Nordschleife (DE) and Spa-Francorchamps (BE). For additional information click here.

About Multicorpos

Multicorpos is an exclusive software reseller for CAE analyses in Latin America for the most prestigious companies in these fields, such as CD Adapco for CFD analysis, MSC Software for structural and dynamic analyses, Dassault for manufacturing and digital simulations, VI-grade for specialized system-level simulation solutions. Multicorpos also includes a dedicated service team able to perform advanced dynamic analyses using the computational tool for Multibody Systems by means of MSC.ADAMS. The team also owns expertise in structural analyses using the technique of finite elements simulation as well as in the analysis of fluid systems using computational techniques (CFD). Located in the high tech district of São Carlos, Multicorpos provides counseling support in the business area and relies on qualified human resources through a close relationship with two of the most important universities (UFSCar and USP). For additional information, click here.