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6 unusual facts about Nick Wirth


Marussia MR02

Under Symonds' direction, Marussia abandoned the exclusive use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD)—a method developed by former chief designer Nick Wirth—to develop their car, and instead used conventional techniques such as scale models and windtunnels, with CFD used to complement rather than dominate the design process.

Nick Wirth

Wirth attended Sevenoaks School from 1977 to 1984 and has B.Sc(Hons) in Mechanical Engineering (First Class) from University College London and is the youngest-ever Fellow of the Royal Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

Wirth used computational fluid dynamics extensively to design the LMP1 class car.

Pat Symonds

Shortly afterwards, the team parted company with existing technical director Nick Wirth.

Simtek S951

The car was designed by Simtek owner and technical director Nick Wirth, along with the chief designer of Simtek Research, Paul Crooks.

Virgin MVR-02

The car did not use KERS; chief designer Nick Wirth commented that the gains offered by the system did not justify the expense in developing it.



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