Racing to the clouds in a cloud-connected Vertigo race car

The thrill of racing is about driving closer to perfection as you go into each new lap and getting the best performance out of the car. Discover how the new Vertigo, built and designed from the ground up by Automobiles Gillet, is using sensoring technology and the latest in cloud platform capabilities to boost the racing performance of Vanina Ickx. On top of that, you will be able to witness everything that is happening on the track and in the car.

The thrill of racing is about driving closer to perfection as you go into each new lap and getting the best performance out of the car. The perfect synergy between man (or woman) and machine. However, in recent years, we have seen that the influence of smart technologies and the intelligent usage of data are increasingly playing a crucial role when it comes to record-breaking or top performances. The Vertigo that Vanina Ickx will be driving to the top of Pikes Peak on June 24 is equipped with more than 30 extremely accurate sensors to measure performance and environmental metrics. Gillet turned to delaware to develop an SAP-driven, cloud-based solution capable of gathering, analyzing and visualizing vehicle data to paint a comprehensive picture of its performance.

Romain Dumas, a French racing driver who has won Pikes Peak already 3 times, is coaching Vanina as she prepares herself for this spectacular race. According to him, being able to capture as much data as possible about the performance of the car – both before and during the race – is crucial for a dangerous race like this.“All circumstances are difficult at Pikes Peak,” he says. “The high altitude has an effect on the temperature of the engine, the brakes and on the aerodynamic properties of the car. Having a car equipped with data-capturing technology and being able to use that data to improve each time, is certainly a huge advantage for any team.”

According to Bruno Mommens, Business Developer Emerging Technology at delaware, the combination of the equipment sensors and the cloud-based platform offers a huge potential for racers and rally drivers. “With this technology it is possible to provide visualizations that assist the driver during qualifying races, thus enabling him or her to make better decisions in real time on the track,” he explains. “Afterwards the data gathered can be analyzed, comparing performance differences across multiple competition rounds on specific tracks, in specific conditions.”

For the ‛Race to the Clouds’, several GoPro cameras will be fitted to the car. The video feed will be enhanced with vehicle data taken from the SAP cloud platform, which is overlaid onto the image, enabling spectators to get in-depth insights into the car’s performance on the track.

For the race to Pikes Peak, delaware opted for the SAP Cloud Platform – an open platform as a service (PaaS). With its in-memory database, it is a powerful tool to improve customer experiences and Internet-of-Things-enabled applications. With its instant reporting and dashboarding capabilities, ease of integration and straightforward plugin for AI (Artificial Intelligence) and Machine Learning, the platform offered a fast solution to have a proof of concept ready in just a couple of weeks.

Do you want to see this car in action and join the thrill of the race to Pikes Peak with Vanina Ickx? Stay tuned for our next episode!

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