In the Disney and Pixar movie "Cars," Lightning McQueen refuses to make pit stops in the opening race scene. Lightning swoops around for the final lap and then tragically blows a tire. One by one, all of Lightning's tires shred as he inches to the finish line, which is only feet away. If you haven't seen the movie, I won't spoil it for you.
If you've had any kind of experience racing cars, you know that one little mistake is enough to lose an entire race. But what if I told you there's a way to predict the how, when and why of those mistakes? What if I told you that those mistakes could start getting cut out entirely?
Last week, I got to return to Virginia International Raceway (VIR) and tour SoVa Motion Tire Labs, also known as the National Tire Research Center (NTRC). Hidden just before the entrance to VIR, these two buildings record enough data to evolve Porsche racing.
The adventure begins
The SoVa Motion building looked humble, but I was excited to get inside. Frank Della Pia greeted Cole Scrogham (my father) and me at the door to show us around. Della Pia explained that SoVa Motion functions as a 501(c) nonprofit in partnership with the engineering program at Virginia Tech.
Once inside SoVa Motion, Della Pia indicated broad spaces where cubicles will go in order to accommodate individuals arriving from Virginia Tech. For the first stop in the tour, we ducked into a little room where car shocks are tested. Behind the next door lies a tall room with a lift and detail option.
Across the hall, I stepped into a white room with a big desk and three computer monitors. When I asked why so many monitors were needed, I was told that was — in my own words — where the magic happens. These computer screens exist for almost every room and record strings of data from testing. SoVa Motion has enough equipment to test the car itself, the shocks and the tires in multiple different conditions.
While the tour continued, Della Pia led me from the first building into the second, which still falls under the NTRC logo. This building resembled the first in many ways, and here I got to see a driving simulator.
Don't be fooled by the name — the driving simulator is just a fancy way of saying real-life video game with a steering wheel, pedals and three big screens. I was told that, as testing occurs, data is compiled to determine how a car will react on the track. This data can then be plugged into the driving simulator to take a car for a test drive without actually driving the real car.
Across from the driving simulator, a tire on a post perched under some weights, and Della Pia explained that this device was used to determine how much weight a tire can hold while still retaining its shape. I never considered that while my car sits out in the driveway, my tires could be getting square.
Tire tester
One aspect unique to SoVa Motion is the LTRe, which stands for "Light Truck and Race." This device is worth a huge amount of money, weighs tons and has the ability to test a tire's reaction to different speeds, tilts and surfaces.
I stood on a metal floor with holes that allowed me to look down into concrete where the motor runs a belt around for the tire. Della Pia explained that the belt could be taken off and equipped with different types of road surfaces. This allows the potential of a tire to be tested without bringing any actual damage to the car itself.
Della Pia added that the computer for the LTRe's data took up about a 20-foot space in another room. Everything must be carefully air conditioned so that nothing overheats during testing.
This room at Sova Motion tests a cars shocks.
Magic data
At SoVa Motion, data is the primary thing that must be kept confidential, because that allows clients to continue to be competitive out on the race track. No two cars are alike, so no two cars are going to produce the same data.
By taking an individual car or tire through rigorous testing at SoVa Motion, racing teams can predict exactly how a car or tire will act in specific conditions. It is certainly time-consuming to go through all possible scenarios a car can run into on the track, but SoVa Motion has the ability to test all of those cases while preserving the car's condition.
This data has the potential to tear through Porsche racing like never before. If race teams take advantage of SoVa Motion, they could make predictions about the outcomes of their races, allowing them to take calculated risks and jump ahead of the competition.
Cole Scrogham, now team manager of GB Autosport, has tentative plans to move the team's car down to Virginia International Raceway (VIR) and partner with SoVa Motion for testing. Conveniently across the street from SoVa Motion, spacious storage units sit waiting to be filled with testable race cars.
Scrogham hopes that data collected from SoVa Motion will allow GB Autosport to jump ahead as a new race team without wearing out the car over and over again on the track. With SoVa Motion, race teams would never have time to look back because they'd always be stepping ahead into the next big accomplishment.
This gives new meaning to the words of Enzo Ferrari: "What's behind you doesn't matter."
