F1 aero tech for new Ranger

Two engineers with backgrounds in Formula One have contributed to the upcoming Ford Ranger's (comparatively) slippery shape.

Thorsten Maertens (pictured, left) and Dr Neil Lewington (right) have been employed by Ford Australia on the global T6 Ranger project for the past four years. During that time, they've carried out over 1000 vehicle aerodynamic simulations to improve the pick-up's drag coefficient from the norm for boxy commercial vehicles.

"A key challenge was managing the interactions between the air flowing over the roof and the variations of cargo boxes in the Ranger lineup, as this constitutes a significant proportion of the vehicle drag," said Maertens, supervisor of the T6 Ranger aerodynamics team.

"The pickup's ride height, especially in the 4x4 models, was another challenge. The higher the vehicle, the more aerodynamic drag it has to overcome. It's a big number of 'counts' for every millimetre of ride height."

To reach 0.40Cd, the aerodynamicists worked on A pillars and C pillars, as well as specifying a small spoiler for the tailgate. Seven per cent of the vehicle's coefficient of drag was shaved by revising the front airdam, with the added advantages of improved lateral stability and engine cooling.

"With about 60 per cent of the power required to cruise at highway speeds being used to overcome aerodynamic effects, minimising drag has real-world fuel economy benefits for the customer, translating directly into more dollars in their pockets," said Dr Lewington.

The aerodynamics team relied on computational fluid dynamics to develop the Ranger's design -- a far cry from the clay modelling of yesteryear. Most of the design was created with the use of computers, with the ability to run 50 aerodynamic simulations in two weeks.

Once the majority of the design was finalised on computer, a full-scale mock-up was created for real-world testing in Ford's wind tunnel. This method reduced development costs by a third. When preliminary results for the T6 Ranger indicated fuel consumption targets were set too low, the aerodynamicists could affordably revisit the design and round off the design further, for another 10 per cent reduction in drag.

"Without the computer technology, it would have been much more difficult, as we'd have had to go back into the wind tunnel to test prototype parts. There was very little time as the other teams were ready to kick off tooling and we had to give them the answer very quickly," Dr Lewington said.

To check out an animation of the aerodynamics of the Ford Ranger go to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nju-R-cwNTM

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