Radon unveils new chassis
"We started with a clean sheet of paper," according to Dr. Nathan Ulrich, Technical Director of Radon Sport.
Radon Sport introduced an aero package for the Van Diemen chassis during the 2009 season, which resulted in significant lap time improvements and race wins. Ulrich felt the Rn.10 was the logical next step: "After testing a Van Diemen F2000 in the wind tunnel in August, we realized we had exhausted the potential of that chassis and a completely new car was necessary."
A team of designers from the US and the UK took on the task. Ulrich credits Ken Anderson for much of the innovation in the new car:
"Ken guided the Rn.10 suspension design and shared his experience in several other key areas," commented Ulrich. “He was concerned that we not repeat the mistakes made by other small formula car constructors, and his ideas resulted in several novel features."
Miqdad Ali and Robert Perry, aerodynamicists with extensive experience in motorsport, including Formula 1, were responsible for the aero design.
Ali explains: "There are many CFD packages available, but few are capable of accurately simulating formula car aerodynamics. We are using state of the art CFD software and practices, the same used by several championship F1 teams. The final design is a very significant improvement over previous F2000 cars."
At least four Radon cars will be campaigned in the 2010 F2000 Championship Series, starting at VIR in April. GTP Motorsports, a former F2000 series championship team, will field two Rn.10 cars.
The New Rn.10 F2000 chassis. (click for high-res)
"After working with Radon Sport last year with their Van Diemen aero project, we are excited to help develop the Rn.10 into a race winning car," said Glenn Phillips of GTP. "We provided lots of input in the areas of quality and serviceability during the design phase. We know the car will be very fast, but it will also be more reliable and a lot easier to work on."
The first production run of Rn.10 chassis has been sold and is currently in build. The design is fully compliant with SCCA 2010 Formula Continental regulations.
The 14-race, seven-weekend 2010 F2000 Championship Series gets going on April 9th at VIR, followed by Road Atlanta in May and Mosport in June. Then it's Watkins Glen with IRL and Lime Rock with ALMS in July before Road America in August and the season finale at Mid-Ohio over Labor Day. The F2000 Series posted the highest average car count on the open wheel development landscape in 2008 and 2009 with an average of 30 entries per race.
Radon Sport LLC is a new company comprised of talent drawn from motorsport, aerospace, and manufacturing. Facilities include three CFD computing clusters, extensive solid modeling and FEA tools, over 40,000 square feet of manufacturing space, 3 and 5-axis CNC machine tools, and unique composites manufacturing capabilities. Customers include aerospace, military, transportation, and medical companies, as well as constructors at all levels of motorsport, including Formula 1. For more information, visit http://www.radonsport.com or email info@radonsport.com. (press release)