Races are won in the workshop as well as on track. As electronics becomes increasingly crucial, Cupra details the electronic control modules providing data analysis on its high-level competition cars
At the Cupra facility in Martorell, Spain, telemetry is seen as a vital tool for winning. Each Cupra TCR features 55 sensors that provide information on all kinds of parameters such as speed, the temperature of the tires and engine operation.
The processing capacity of one of the four control modules on the TCR means that 16 million instructions can be relayed every second. There are two modules in the engine and two more in the cockpit. “They are interconnected and operate in parallel to manage the engine, the electric system, onboard computer and gearbox”, said Xavier Serra, head of R&D at Cupra.
“The electronics on a production model provide the basis for the system found on racecars,” adds Serra. The control module is adapted with the necessary functions for track racing, such as “speed limiters in the event that yellow flags appear on the track”.
Work doesn’t stop at the end of the race. A race weekend generates about 25 gigabytes of information, which the engineers will carefully analyze afterwards. “We have to wait until the race is over to download the data and study how we can make our car better,” notes Serra.
Along with the launch of new production models, the Spanish racing brand has also pledged to keep the motorsport and racing spirit alive by participating in the TCR series.
