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This week, one of RFK Racing’s NASCAR aero engineers shared a cute aerodynamic analysis of Lightning McQueen. AirShaper, the software company that turned the fictional talking car into a computational fluid dynamics model, hit me up this morning to share interactive aero models of McQueen and his animated rival, Jackson Storm. Now you can manipulate and analyze the cars in 3D for yourself!
AirShaper is a cloud-based CFD design tool. If you’re making something that interacts with flowing liquids or gases (could be anything from airplanes to appliance plumbing), you’ll want to mathematically study its dynamics within a simulation before you start locking in designs. So the basic idea behind AirShaper is that it’s considerably more scientific than covering a car in tape like Ken Miles did in Ford vs. Ferrari, but much more accessible than operating your own wind tunnel.
One of the software company’s people created a cool demo video, explaining a bit about car aero and how their tech works. Check that out here:
Speaking of doing things on your own, here are the pages on AirShaper’s site where you can manipulate and analyze McQueen and Storm’s airflow on your own computer or phone. Just click on the subtitle text or picture and away you go:
As for making sense of those models, you can actually get a good dose of context from the professional analysis we shared yesterday. If you missed that one, here’s what RFK Racing’s Aerodynamics/CFD Engineer, Seth Dillard, thought about Lightning McQueen’s aero profile:
Finding yourself curious about CFD’s more practical applications now? AirShaper also has a catalog of sample simulations that let you look at the gas and liquid flow over quite a few different air, land, and sea vehicles.
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Automotive journalist since 2013, Andrew primarily coordinates features, sponsored content, and multi-departmental initiatives at The Drive.