“Our
multifunctional
testbed is a state-
of-the-art solution
for the industry.
Full Vehicle Testing
in Motorsport
The Flagship Testing
Solution for Motorsport
The excellent testing environments that we offer our
customers at the AVL HQ in Graz include a multifunctional
testbed, known as full vehicle testbed TB503. This can be used
either to test single components or to run the entire racecar
– no matter whether it has an internal combustion engine,
hybrid drive, or electric drive. The high-tech facility is designed
for extreme acceleration and deceleration values, meaning it
covers all current and future motorsport requirements.
The interactions of the individual vehicle components on the
TB503 are identical to use on the racetrack. The option to
directly connect the testbed to the AVL RACETECH driving
simulator and its vehicle simulation software (VSM™ RACE)
maOes tLe testFed even more realistic Jor setYTs sTecific to
the racetrack. To enable full vehicle testing, the TB503 has
four wheel dynos with maximum outputs of up to 1200 kW
per wheel. Powerful speed-controlled cooling fans and battery
emulators are among the additional technical highlights.
“Essentially, we roll in the real race car, remove all four wheels,
and connect every corner to a wheel dyno. Then we run the car
on the testbed and continue to run the real ECU, the real motor,
the real battery and so on,” says AVL’s Department Leader
Race Engineering, Michael Peinsitt. “So, you do not need to
develoT a testFedsTecific solYtion FecaYse yoYƅre actYally
running with the real car. This provides a very realistic testing
environment that is very interesting for many teams given the
testing limitations that exist in various racing categories.”
The TB503 has four wheel dynos that each run at a rated out-
put of 800 kilowatts. This value can be temporarily increased
to up to 1,200 kW, so that 2,400 kW is then available per
axle, which is particularly necessary for braking in high-
performance classes such as Formula 1. The race car uses
its own suspension, but is not physically moved in a vertical
direction. However, bumps can be simulated very realistically
with the VSM™ RACE driving dynamics simulation running in
the background.
This in-house simulation software, specially developed for
racing, contains models of all relevant components of the
complete racing car and a track model with all curve radiuses
and a representation of the curbs and all the bumps on the
racetrack. This means that the car moves in exactly the
same way in the simulation as it would on a real racetrack –
including wheelspin or wheel locking when going over bumps,
running over curbs, or braking too hard.
Features of the
Multifunctional Testbed
2024