Menard Competition Technologies (MCT) has launched one of the world’s most advanced commercially-available fibre optic-based data acquisition systems, the MEG 801, onto the motorsport marketplace. It has unveiled the product at this week’s Motorsport Emporium event in Cologne, where it is set to take the professional and amateur motorsport worlds by storm.
Robust, light and versatile, the unit was initially designed by Menard designers in the United States for use on its in-house race car programmes. Word of the technology spread and other motorsport organisations sought to adopt the system. It has since received widespread acclaim from leading single-seater, sportscar prototype and off-road teams during its use across oval, road course and rally stage environments.
The system is based on a central unit that houses a number of small optical receivers, as well as a main microprocessor - referred to as the ‘logger’ - constructed utilising low mass, surface-mounted components. Satellite A/D converter units, which are connected to vehicle sensors, transmit signals back to the logger via extremely light plastic fibre optic cables, instead of the more prevalent - and heavier – bundles of copper wire.
Across the extreme environment of motorsport, the system holds a number of key advantages. With one of the fundamental drivers of motorsport engineering being weight minimisation, the unit will save at least 4kgs in a typical rear-engined single seater, by utilising fibre optic cables. In addition, if a line is cut or new fibre optic cable is needed, the price is a mere pound per foot, where traditional looms can cost up to £5,000 for a complete unit. And whilst light and economical, the equipment is also extremely simple to take on or off, with no harness issues.
Charlie Bamber, managing director of MCT, sees huge potential for the unit, given the advantages it brings and noted: “We have developed the system in the States over the last three years, through our work with partner organisations. Due to its weight and simplicity, team personnel are passionate about the product.
He concluded: “And as importantly, it brings with it a real economic advantage. High-end single seater data acquisition systems could previously cost as much as £75,000 per vehicle – and we have been able to revolutionise the marketplace economically, due to the simplicity of the unit.”
The product is also suitable for other harsh environments where data acquisition is vital, including aerospace, marine and other advanced engineering applications. The unit, which will continue to be the subject of an ongoing R&D programme in the States, will be marketed and sold across Europe from MCT’s UK facilities at Leafield Technical Centre in Oxfordshire.
