Winshear Coming in June!

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With the races at Daytona and Talladega completed, aerodynamics has taking the spotlight for Sprint Cup racing. Unfortunately, the new Windshear, rolling road, wind tunnel was not open for business until after the races at Daytona and Talladega were run. The Windshear Grand Opening is scheduled for June. Windshear apologizes to the many interested race fans, but the Grand Opening is restricted to bonafide race teams only.

While building is progressing at a very rapid rate the installation of the rolling road itself and the necessary periphery equipment, takes some time. A cursory look at the facility would lead one to believe it should be open for business now. Construction of this facility is like building a house. The walls go up, the roof goes on, and windows go in. When you look from the outside the facility looks finished.

The electronics and set up of the tunnel is very time consuming. Test upon test must be run to be sure that all systems are functioning properly. Windshear wants a smooth opening without any surprises.

Unfortunately, unforeseen things do happen. While we were taking our tour the telephone service and internet service decided to deactivate themselves.

For those of you that will not be able to be in attendance, lets take a look at the Windshear facility. The heart of the tunnel is the fan with 29, carbon fiber blades, that when mounted, measures 22 feet in diameter. This big fan is driven by a 5,100 horse power motor. The air exiting from this fan is going 30 mph. The 180 mph wind blowing over the car, on the rolling road, is generated by reducing the area of the tunnel as it enters the rolling road. By using a six to one ratio the 30 mph wind is boosted to 180 mph as it enters the rolling road portion of the tunnel. Power is not only soaked up by the big electric fan motor pushing this air but also by a hugh refrigeration system that keeps the air in the tunnel at a constant 75 degrees.

Engineers are presently installing the computers, which monitor a car undergoing testing. This bank of computers, controls, and monitors, sit behind reinforced glass windows, over looking the rolling road. No errant car parts or exploding tires should escape the confines of the rolling road area. Safety is the number one priority at the wind tunnel. Testing is also monitored by four cameras mounted high on the walls in the tunnel. Most data is collected from the car being tested and sent to the computers via wiring embedded in the four steel hold down cables used as tethers. Some data can be transmitted from the car via by wireless transmitters if needed. All testing is done with the engine turned off and the wheels are brought up to speed by the moving belt . If for some reason a belt is damaged, or is scheduled for replacement, a spare is ready to be installed. The stainless steel road belt can be changed in as little as 45 minutes. Since the belt is only one mm thick, special care must be taken when placing or removing a car from the rolling road belt. Belt life is estimated at 6,000 Hours.

Windshear’s business manager, Peter Zierhut, and Randy Graves of Jacobs were our guides. Peter is a Windshear employee charged with getting the customers and Randy is in charge of the actual testing when the cars arrive at the facility. Jacobs is a professional management group whose business is managing the operations of many wind tunnels around the world.

Open wheel and full bodied race cars already have booked time for testing. One major auto manufacturer has contracted with Windshear for time and will get both their race cars and production vehicles in the tunnel for testing.

To make the wind tunnel project as efficient possible, the parent company, HAAS Automotive, has seen fit to install a work bay with some of their CNC equipment. Customers can have access to rapid repairs or to make unplanned changes to their vehicles without leaving the Windshear premises.

For further information stay posted to GoFastNews.com and we will keep you up to date on Windshear.