Vehicle Engineering

High performance vehicles, whether on road or track, always demand extreme levels of dynamic performance and occupant safety. These vehicles are often the first application of advanced technologies that will eventually be developed into mainstream on-road products. Ricardo is an active developer and innovator of high performance vehicle technologies and has been involved in several performance derivatives of mainstream products as well as successful motorsport and land speed record-breaking vehicles.

State-of-the-art capability in performance vehicle systems engineering:

• Concept development, competitor product evaluation and benchmarking, and target & attribute setting for design specification
• High performance body and chassis systems, optimized for structural performance/weight based on their desired specific performance attributes
• Vehicle dynamics simulation modelling using advanced CAE methods
• Full design and development from prototype (including rapid prototyping methods) through to production
• Test schedule specifications and validation planning and management, from component through to vehicle level
• NVH and noise quality development
• Supplier qualification, selection and management
• Lightweight structural architecture optimization and application of advanced materials, joining and manufacturing technologies
• Comprehensive prototype build and testing capability including where necessary all aspects of calibration and homologation