One way to make your racecar faster is to optimise its aerodynamics. Here’s how one driver shaved 20 seconds off his Nürbürgring lap time by using AirShaper to improve the aerodynamics of his Porsche GT4.

To be successful in racing (and in real life for that matter) usually the best strategy is to apply the resources you have available in the most efficient way possible to achieve your goal. When that goal is to lap the Nürbürgring in a Porsche GT4 as fast and as often as possible within 24 hours, there are numerous ways to achieve this. As ever in engineering, improving performance does not come without compromise.

Wider Tyres 
Volker Wawer is a German racing driver from Karlsruhe and the first modification he wanted to make to his Porsche GT4 was to switch to wider tyres. Simply fitting wider tyres doesn’t actually guarantee an increase in grip. Contrary to most people?s intuition, simple theory (F_friction = friction_coefficient * F_normal) shows that the increase in surface area of the contact patch alone doesn?t necessarily increase grip. What does provide more grip however, is a softer compound, due to the higher friction coefficient. To still be able to support the weight of the car and withstand the aerodynamic downforce, wider tyres and stiffer sidewalls can form part of the solution. These provide more material to wear through, resulting in fewer pit stops and the increased la...