Rate this article:
Victory by Design: Jaquar DVD
This brand new show will give the Jaguar enthusiast a real chance to appreciate the beauty and power of the Jaguar heritage.
Our Price: $24.95
"Hot Rod Pinups II"
A Sequel to his 2005 bestseller Hot Rod Pin-ups, ace photographer David Perry offers an all-new collection of images.
Our Price: $35.00
Speed Addicts: Grand Prix Racing
Speed Addicts is the complete and definitive illustrated book of grand prix motor racing, told in the form of a human story.
Our Price: $34.99 ON SALE!
Written by:
Marshall Pruett
04/19/2008 - 03:34 PM
Long Beach, CA
Ron Mathis (left) and Barnaby Wainfan (right). (Photo: Marshall Pruett) » More Photos
Mathis’ Chance Meeting Leads to Aerospace Assistance
7:43am PT
“I see someone outside I’ve got to go meet…actually, you should come with me and meet him—he’s an absolutely fascinating guy.” I was catching up with Ron Mathis, a former colleague and now engineer to Emanuele Pirro and Frank Biela at Audi, when he spotted a relatively new acquaintance outside the trailer doors, one Barnaby Wainfan.
While waiting at LAX to fly home from the 2007 Long Beach Grand Prix, Mathis happened to be talking about the Audi R10 he works with when Wainfan, a great fan of the American Le Mans Series, overheard the words ‘Audi’ and ‘R10.’ After a quick introduction, Mathis and Wainfan, through a chance meeting at LAX, have formed a strong friendship—one of mutual admiration and appreciation for the different engineering realms they operate within.
To start, I can’t mention who Barnaby works for or what he does, but understand that in his role within the aerospace industry, he’s one of the leading experts on a variety of aerodynamic disciplines—areas that make sportscar racing aerodynamics look positively pedestrian. Compared to what the average auto racing engineer understands about aerodynamics, the products of Wainfan’s imagination see flight at the razor thin line between the atmosphere and outer space.
Barnaby’s been working in wind tunnels since the early seventies, and over time, has tested and developed many things for the aerospace industry that are now commonly used in auto racing. Through their chance meeting, Wainfan’s been able to lend a number of innovative ideas and solutions for Mathis to employ in his trade.
“I think good people in any industry look for other people that bring alternate ideas and expertise to improve their own work. For Ron and me, we just love trading tales and experiences to help each other do a better job of how we make a living,” said Wainfan.
“Barnaby tolerated me relentlessly picking his brain, and I look forward to seeing him at every opportunity to grow my knowledge of how air impacts and works with prototypes,” Mathis offered. Who knows what the two friends will come up with to discuss at Long Beach this year, but as they find time, the worlds of aerospace and auto racing engineering are likely to grow even closer.
Dyson’s Days of CART
10:55am PT
Long time Dyson driver James Weaver also piloted their short-lived CART entry back in 1989. (Photo: Dan R. Boyd) » More Photos
Think of the Dyson Racing team, and images of sportscars—Porsche’s, Lola’s, and other prototypes come to mind. Yet for a time, Dyson fielded and entry driven by James Weaver against the likes of Mario Andretti, Danny Sullivan, Al Unser Jr., Rick Mears, and the rest of the packed CART field. Running a Lola-Cosworth and using Goodyear tires, the team qualified 17th at Long Beach, and just missed out on a top-ten finish.
He was just a boy at the time, but Chris Dyson still recalls the special time when his family battled Indycar’s finest.
Almost twenty years later, Dyson is still racing at Long Beach--the blue and white paint has also endured. (Photo: Dan R. Boyd) » More Photos
“We were here back in 1989, and we didn’t really have the equipment to compete, but we still had a very encouraging run with the car here at Long Beach. James Weaver finished 11th, one of the highest placing non-factory teams—it was a year old car. It was a good experience.
“I’d like to think that while Dyson Racing has a big history in sportscars, but our experience in CART, in Formula Atlantic, and even other sportscar series shows that wherever we go, we’ll be competitive, regardless of whether it’s open-wheel or closed wheel.”
Ron’s Dodgey Past
1:28pm PT
I’d originally caught up with Mathis to talk with him about what he was doing at Long Beach twelve years ago this weekend—running two Dodge Stratus Super Touring cars. Few people remember the two years the North
The 1997 NATCC championship winning Dodge Stratus. (Photo: Dodge) » More Photos
The NATCC was never a threat to the high car counts and close competition the BTCC offered, but the Dodge program was by far the elite effort in the series. At the time, it was reckoned the two-car team would find themselves well placed in the BTCC.
“I was technical liaison between Dodge and the Pacwest Racing team that ran the cars, and was also the engineer on the #7 car. I could talk for hours about this! They were pure factory race cars; some of the parts on the cars were the same as found on the street cars, and although they looked from the outside like the same inexpensive cars you could buy at a Dodge dealership, they were stunning pieces beneath the skin. Even the OE parts on the car were what we laughingly called ‘tolerance optimized’…the stock parts were all thinner or lighter than what the public could buy, and the rest of the car was as advanced as a touring car could be.”
Weighing 2200 pounds and making 300 horsepower, the Stratus program secured the final NATCC championship in 1997 with David Donohue driving. Compared to an Audi R10 that weighs just under 2000 pounds, has 650 horsepower, torque beyond calculation, and can cruise well above 200mph, the diversity in machinery Mathis has worked with—from a four-door family sedan to a Le Mans 24 hour winning prototype, is almost comical. But Mathis is quick to point out that the two are more alike than different.
“In working with the Audi engineers, having worked with the Dodge factory in the past, the Audi program is bigger, but the work I do now with the R10 isn’t that much different than I did with the Dodge Stratus. In that respect, the cars were as unlimited as prototype cars—in terms of the engineering freedom we had, they’re almost identical.”
Engineering the Audi, says Mathis, isn't much different than engineering the Dodge Stratus. (Photo: Marshall Pruett) » More Photos
For two cars so seemingly unrelated, it’s surprising to learn how similar the two are when it comes time for Mathis to work his engineering magic.
“In many ways the cars are very similar; you can’t defy physics with any racing car. The standard racing car virtues still apply: you want light weight, you want a low center of gravity, you want high downforce with low drag…everybody knows that—it’s no secret, but it’s how you go about getting those things. “
How a factory program sets about achieving these desired performance traits is entirely different than how a privateer effort approaches the same challenge. “The standards that a factory racing program set to achieve their goals are the difference, and whether it’s Audi or Dodge, the approach is largely the same. It’s why the factory programs always win in the end. The depths of resources they can bring to bear on something like this racing program are just massive. There’s a lot of inertia behind a factory program, so when they do start moving, it just takes your breath away—at the resources they can allocate and how quickly things happen.”
Mathis credits his time in the NATCC for preparing him for his role with Audi. “I firmly believe that the difference between me getting the job here at Audi or not getting it was based on the fact that I’d previously worked for a major auto manufacturer in a major factory racing program. I have to give Dodge a lot of credit for me being here—it was excellent training.”
The NATCC is but a distant memory, but former team members are abundant in the ALMS paddock. “I still meet people in this paddock that were involved in the series—they know what it was like and the good work everybody did; we’re alive and well…the series may be long gone but many of us are still here…”
- Press Releases | Advertising | Jobs | Feedback | Terms & Conditions | Privacy | Site Map
Fox Sports | FUEL TV | FX Network | FOXReality | National Geographic - © Copyright 2008 Speed Channel, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
