The São Paulo ePrix made history in Formula E, bringing the category to Brazil for the first time. But in the midst of the party, the fans’ expectations and the sound of the samba schools, there was a new test for the drivers and teams. The circuits of the category, always street and with long straights and strong braking, represent a challenge, but when we talk about a new track, it becomes even greater.
A lot of this has to do with the fact that competitors are not given access to the track before practice sessions begin. Even in them, time is counted, with just over an hour of circuit available between the shakedown and the two sessions that precede a race. Soon after, comes the qualifying training, when everyone needs to be at their peak performance to guarantee the best starting positions.
Given this extremely short time, how can we guarantee the best performance? That’s where the simulators come in, used by Formula E teams and also from other motorsport categories to carry out digital tests. At Jaguar TCS Racing, the software uses digital twin technology, or “digital twin” in English, precisely for its purpose of bringing a faithful copy of the real experience to the virtual.
“Racing on street circuits means the layout is always changing, bringing challenges for drivers,” explains James Barclay, team principal. “In the simulator, we can plan and optimize energy consumption, in addition to optimizing the software and its management algorithms, seeking increasingly faster and more efficient strategies.”
According to him, all teams receive access to the virtual version of the tracks at the same time. This is an aspect of parity that is at the core of the Formula E rules, with everyone using the same chassis, tyres, batteries and aerodynamic elements. Teams can develop components such as power units, inverters, software and energy recovery systems, with these, alongside each driver’s skill, making the difference at every race.
“The simulator helps you understand what each track needs, whether it’s from a power setup point of view, whether it’s managing or setting up the cars,” said Mitch Evans, Jaguar TCS driver. “(The São Paulo circuit) is very technical, it has less conventional curves and the walls are very close. We always race in tight races, but this one feels even more condensed.”
The test showed the fidelity of the technology, with what was expected in the digital environment actually happening in reality. Before the race, Evans said he believed, based on the data, that we would have a race decided in the last few laps and corners. Said and done: he took the victory with his teammate Sam Bird in third, positions that came after a fierce dispute with Nick Cassidy, from Envision Racing – the distance between the three, at the end of the race, was just half a second.
Speed and technology, side by side
The partnership between Jaguar and Tata Consultancy Services, also known as TCS, goes beyond just a name on the team, as Subhanjan Ghosh, director of the company’s manufacturing business for Latin America, points out. The companies have been cooperating since 2012, even before the inaugural Formula E race, and maintain a union in segments such as product engineering, digital transformation and, more recently, cloud computing.
Jaguar’s entry into the electric car category in 2016 accompanied the carmaker’s leap towards electrification, and with that, digital systems became more important than ever. “Cars are no longer mechanical to become electric, and with that, the very idea of owning a vehicle is also changing. (The race), then, brings people to the stage where everything happens, generating emotion and allowing them to engage directly with the innovation”, explained the executive.
In the case of the Jaguar I-TYPE 6, as the Jaguar TCS Racing car is called, the digital twin simulator not only transfers Formula E tracks and elements to the virtual environment, but also the vehicles’ telemetry in real time. “In a race, peak performance depends on analyzing critical data in time to make informed decisions about vehicle setup and race strategy.”
Ghosh also points to the power of the cloud in processing all this information quickly, plus the security aspect that allows for further tweaking. Even outside the tracks and tests where the drivers are in the simulators, data analysis helps to understand what went right, as in the São Paulo ePrix, or what went wrong so that it can be improved in a next race.
Above that, the director points to sustainability as a motivating factor that, according to him, raises “evolution and human values”. For him, participation in Formula E is directly related to accelerating the adoption of electric cars and making people aware of the issue, as well as presenting alternatives to current mobility problems.
The purpose walks alongside the goals of Jaguar Land Rover itself, which intends to work only with electric cars from the luxury brand starting next year, with a goal of switching to SUVs by 2030. “Companies are on a shared journey to reimagine modern luxury, based on sustainability and the customer experience, setting high standards in terms of environmental, social and community impact.”
So much so that, for the company, the digital twin goes beyond racing simulations, also being used in reproductions of cities, business environments, product development and even in the management of artists and brands, with a nice little help from artificial intelligence and connectivity . “The future of mobility covers several business segments and TCS has active interests in innovation in all of them”, he concludes.
