The goal of this project was to develop a realistic racing-line trajectory for courses with arbitrary geometries. In order to do this we relied on expert knowledge from both racing and test drivers who presented their different strategies to cope with route demands. The drivers provided the information verbally, visually and by recorded vehicle data. Over 250 different curves and curve combinations were defined using this data base, from which then over 400 curve connection combinations could again be joined.
Software users have the ability to choose between different driving strategies, which are infinitely adjustable between the settings of “soft” i.e. the route with minimum curvature and “hard”, i.e. the time-optimal strategy. Furthermore, the course limits can be automatically shifted to sections with problematic track curvature.
Further potential for the optimization of lap times lies in the use of the height profile of the road, which helps to generate an improved speed profile.
