Thomsen Motorsport

A childhood passion

Simon’s passion for cars began at high school. He purchased his first track car, a BMW E 30, whilst attending university and often attended track days for fun. Once Simon became more experienced, he started racing competitively, sparking an interest in design and modifications of cars.  He soon realised that the best way to undertake larger and more technical modifications is with 3D CAD.

The power of SOLIDWORKS CAD

Simon has used a number of CAD programs but SOLIDWORKS was his preferred choice due to its “simplicity and effectiveness”. As he became more involved in competitive racing he drew upon more of the SOLIDWORKS suite to improve the performance of his racing cars.

“SOLIDWORKS offers rendering functionalities that maximise design productivity”, said Simon.  “It is not restrictive.  The PhotoView 360 feature is extremely useful.  It has intuitive rendering capabilities that simulate the view of the car from a driver’s perspective.  This makes placing fittings such as mirrors and cameras incredibly easy and accurate”.

“As well as rendering, SOLIDWORKS delivers time and cost savings; wastage of large volumes of material are reduced significantly.  I am able to calculate near exact material requirements – no matter the material type (i.e. steel, wood, fibreglass)”.

Accessing Intercad’s expertise and support

Simon wanted to further his knowledge of the SOLIDWORKS suite.  In particular, he wanted to take advantage of the CFD functionalities, which is a complex functionality to use and understand.

He turned to the team at Intercad who trained and supported him on the use of SOLIDWORKS Simulation.  SOLIDWORKS Simulation allows Simon to test and simulate his designs in conditions that put him ahead of many of his competitors.

What has been of further value to Simon is Intercad’s experience in working with other high performing vehicle designers who use SOLIDWORKS.  Intercad’s clients include Triple Eight Race Engineering, who design the engines for the Redbull Australia – Vortex V8 Race team, and Emirates Team New Zealand.

Simon also accesses Intercad’s range of online tutorial videos and technical blog posts to get quick insights and answers with the software. “These on-line resources provide critical hints and tips on how to work with unfamiliar bits”, said Simon.

What next for Thompson Motorsport?

Simon is working to complete the FVT05, his custom designed and built Formula Vee vehicle. He plans to compete in the 2017 Formula Vee competition next year in Australia and aims to keep stretching the performance of the vehicle design with SOLIDWORKS.  He also has an eye on competing in the higher motorsport categories sometime in the future.

We will be reporting more on Simon’s work performance and results. Keep up to date with the project here.