Ford Performance is Using Simulators to Push Into the Future

The Ford Performance Technical Center is a massive 33,000 square-foot building located in Concord, N.C. outside of Charlotte. It’s only been open for about two years, but Motorsports Engineering Manager Mark Rushbrook calls it a showcase of what his team is doing by combining all of the available resources into one place.

Though the team is, of course, using the new center as a place to perfect what is present and what is available today, the main focus is to build, plan, and expand for the future. A big part of that is a full-body experience in a motorsports racing simulator. Set up exactly like a car without actually having a full car, the machine sits on a platform that uses hydraulic actuators to mimic the experience and stiff ride of being in a real racecar. In front of that and arching around the entire machine is a projector screen that gives a virtual reality of being on a track.

The center also houses many of Ford’s best engineers and gives them a home base to collect and analyze all sorts of driving data to work toward improving the cars and helping the drivers.

via [Ford Performance]