Catesby Projects host Advanced Aerodynamics Conference

Catesby Projects Host Successful First
‘Advanced Aerodynamics Conference and Networking Event’

On Wednesday 10th September we welcomed close to ninety industry leading professionals to our home at Catesby Innovation Centre as we hosted the inaugural Advanced Aerodynamics Conference and Networking Event. Aerodynamicists, Academics, Directors and Senior Engineers from across the motorsport and automotive sectors attended, with exhibitions from LaVision and Evolution Measurement also. McMurtry’s record-breaking Speirling was parked up in the entrance too which turned plenty of heads on arrival.

The first session focussed on ‘Computational Applications’ and featured presentations from Aston Martin’s Senior Aerodynamics Manager – Darren Coe, NVIDIA’s Distinguished Engineer – Ira Shokar and Bramble CFD’s Managing Director – Ivor Annetts. From the aero performance of the Vantage F1 safety car to the future of AI in aerodynamics, this session provided plenty of talking points and the Q&A panel was definitely a highlight of the whole event.

After a quick networking and coffee break Georgios Rigas, Associate Professor at Imperial College London and James Eddison, Head of Aerodynamics Services at Sauber gave presentations for the ‘Experimental applications’ session. This was followed by three talks centred around PIV testing in Catesby Tunnel. Lunch was held down at the tunnel itself where delegates had the opportunity for further networking and a tour of Catesby Tunnel. Subaru also had their test vehicle and hub sensor on display.

The afternoon session on ‘Advanced Applications’ featured talks from Gianluca Orso Fiet, Subject Matter Expert at JLR, renowned aerodynamicist Willem Toet, Iain Wight of McMurtry Automotive and Red Bull Advanced Technologies’ Head Aerodynamicist – Daniel Smith. The presentations covered body loading, the development of F1 regulations, the use of fan downforce for performance and innovating beyond restriction. Again, the talks were hugely engaging and generated great discussion in the Q&A panel.

After receiving lots of positive feedback we are hopeful we will host a similar event again next year. Keep an eye on our socials for more information or head to the Contact Us page of this website and subscribe to our quarterly newsletter to kept up to date.