Mathias
Potter

An original research project into motorcycle aerodynamics at 45–60° lean, the regime where a bike actually spends its lap time and one largely absent from open literature.

Rather than selecting from the standard project list, I co-created and proposed this project, secured approval for 2026/27, and recruited the six-person team delivering it. I now lead the project, responsible for technical direction, work allocation and delivery across the full academic year.

The study uses a 50%-scale wind tunnel model with rolling road, lean and yaw capability, allowing the combined effects of lean angle and yaw to be characterised under representative ground conditions.

A feasibility study of retroreflective particle image velocimetry as an alternative to conventional laser-sheet PIV.

Tested in a closed-loop water tunnel across five angles of attack and five tunnel speeds, the technique resolved coherent velocity fields including wake behaviour and vorticity near the flap, with reasonable agreement against conventional laser-sheet PIV and published literature. Uncalibrated flow speed and near-wall resolution were identified as the dominant sources of uncertainty.

Read the abstract

This work aimed to validate a retroreflective particle image velocimetry (PIV) approach for capturing full-field flow around a thick aerofoil with a Gurney flap. In a closed-loop water tunnel, a high-resolution camera (JAI GO-2400C-USB) imaged tracer particles against a retroreflective background material. Across a range of five angles of attack and five tunnel speeds, coherent velocity fields were resolved, mainly the behaviour of flow over the aerofoil, enhanced vorticity near the flap, and wake patterns. The main wake trends showed reasonable agreement with a conventional PIV comparison and with relevant literature data. Importantly, the retroreflective lighting enabled full body visualisation with no shadowing, which is difficult with traditional laser-sheet PIV. However, quantitative accuracy was limited by uncalibrated flow speed (pump Hz). The major uncertainties are in the global velocity scale and near-wall resolution. In summary, the study demonstrates that retroreflective PIV can capture the main flow behaviour around the aerofoil and provide useful derived quantities, although these remain more suitable for qualitative and semi-quantitative interpretation in the present implementation. Future work should focus on improving calibration, optimising seeding and illumination to improve quantitative accuracy and enable viewing and analysis on a wider range of components.

A quasi-steady-state lap-time simulator correlated against real Formula 1 telemetry from the 2024 Italian Grand Prix pole lap.

The first version matched lap time to within 1.25%, but that figure flattered the model. Taking RMS error across the full speed trace as the honest measure instead, I added a load-sensitive tyre model and a Nelder–Mead correlation fitter and brought the error down from 26.1 to 16.1 km/h. I then established four independent ways of showing the residual is a limit of the quasi-steady-state model class rather than a data problem.

Wrapped in an optimiser, the model independently recovers the correct real-world setup direction per circuit from track geometry alone: a trimmed wing and long gears at Monza, a loaded wing at the Hungaroring.

Read the abstract

I built a quasi-steady-state (QSS) lap-time simulator in Python and validated it against real Formula 1 telemetry, matching lap time to within 1.25%, though RMS error across the full speed trace, at 16.1 km/h, is the honest measure. I then combined it with an optimiser which, given only a circuit's geometry, independently chooses the right aerodynamic setup for that track. Monza and the Hungaroring were optimised for comparison.