The Type of Team Car Can Determine Who Wins the Individual Time Trial
Earlier, scientific studies by Bert Blocken and his research team in collaboration with Ansys, part of Synopsys, were the first to demonstrate that a team car following a cyclist can provide a significant aerodynamic advantage to this cyclist. However, up to now this work has been done only for a typical estate car, while the guidelines of the International Cycling Union (UCI) allow other types of cars and some different types have been used in the past. The guidelines also stipulate a minimum distance between car and cyclist of 25 m but this rule is not enforced.
The present new study analyses the impact of the type of the team car on the cyclist aerodynamics. The cars analysed include the small Mercedes Smart, an aerodynamic Jaguar, the academic Drivaer car, the academic AeroSUV, the Grenadier SUV, and three trucks with increasing number of aerodynamic features. It is shown that the drag reduction for the cyclist followed by a Grenadier team car is 1.27, 0.50 and 0.28% higher than with a typical Estate car (Drivaer) for a distance of 5, 10 and 25 m, respectively. This corresponds to extra time savings of about 0.27, 0.12 and 0.05 s per kilometre. For a 25 m time trial, the resulting time gains of 6.7, 3.0 and 1.2 s could determine who wins the race.
