[MVRC] Mantium Virtual Racecar Challenge 2026 (Grand Prix Cars)

[hollus]

Such a pleasure to see you guys still going strong!
Here is a new, shiny, sticky thread for 2026.

(This way for the 2025 thread).

[LVDH]

Thank you.

Well, it is getting time for MVRC 2026!
We will pretty much run like we did last year. I have some ideas.
But please, first tell me what you would like to see for the new season!

[Dimitris]

Greetings to all!
I have some suggestions regarding the geometry of the cars. First of all, I think the addition of the rear wheel cascades proposed by CAEdevice is a great idea. But I would also like to see wheel hubs/brake covers that resemble more accurately the ones we see on the cars, as the vanes on the rear wheels are especially important for managing the interaction of the flow between the wheels and the diffuser.

[yinlad]

I shall begin my traditional Wishlist for the year!

1) The new diffuser wall winglet we've already discussed. I think a standard component that can be placed within the volume is a nice idea and somewhat replicates it's real life counterpart.

2a) Restricted bodywork opening regulations to more align with the real life rules. (G-Raph is our usual open back sidepod enthusiast, see his car for reference)

2b) Varied cooling requirements race to race, gives some in season variety to contend with other than downforce level. Should present a nice opportunity for those willing to invest in cooling levels a chance to eek out performance race to race.

3) More freedom for suspension design. This is a bit trickier to maintain but I'm thinking along the lines of a set of 5 spheres on the bodywork, front and rear (pick up points if you will), that a suspension member must attach to the corresponding mandatory part within (chassis for front, gearbox for rear etc.). Each sphere has a counterpart on the outboard upright that the other end much attach to. If you wanted to be fancy, you could have points for push and pull rod, and let the designer decide one of the two. As for minimum chord/thickness of each member, I think something along the lines of the mandatory parts we have now is ok, but they are user generated for each member and must sit fully within the aero shroud geometry. I would suggest 10mm cylinders for simplicity. The 15mm or so we had in 2025 were too large imo. As for maximum chord length of said suspension components, I'm not sure how to design a rule in such a way that it doesn't add significant burden to the scrutineering crew. (suggestions welcome)

4) Straight line mode. This I fear, adds so much complexity I'm not sure it's possible in a 'pure' fashion. At minimum we would need to run 2 simulations per car, and in the simplest form simply remove the upper 2 flaps of each wing, instead of having to deal with rotations. We have a gracious sponsor but doubling the compute needed for each race may be a bridge too far.

5) Stricter rules on bodywork radius (see CAE end of season car) and floor/diffuser 'exploits' (see also CAE end of season car). Not sure about rule wording, but I think we can all agree on the intent.

6) Mesh density. Given we are able to run on the cluster now, I'd really love for us to get higher quality mesh in key areas, to allow for smaller minimum thicknesses on intricate parts i.e. rear brake drum exit, barge board, floor daggers. A 'super_high_res' folder, if you will.

[LVDH]

I pretty much agree on everything, I am thinking about ways to implement these ideas already.

The final one is tricky. I am working on making the sims faster. So this budget can somehow get used. The question is for what. I am not sure yet. But running something like 1.5 sims, so we have open and closed wings would be super cool

[CAEdevice]

Hi, I just copy the link to the most recent ruled volumes proposal in this new thread .

https://www.caedevice.net/SERVER/MVRC/2 ... 26_V02.zip

[LVDH]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hs7PcFX-Tmw
You guys used to ask for realistic brake ducts. Check minute 8, looks like the disappeared now

[LVDH]

Big thanks to Matteo, for once again taking so much care of the CAD. I checked it and so far have these comments:

- Rollhoop needs to be separate from monocoque
- RV_Diffuser_Cascades_V01 should be more of a box, rather than forcing the overall design?
- RV_Suspension_cover_* should only be seperated front to back, not left and right as well
- RV_Suspension_cover_* is in addition to the RV section also in the Wheels_and_suspensions section
- MAND_Suspension_front_minimum_section_V01 front and back need to get mirrored to also the rhs
- Do we get rid of brake duct scoops? In real F1 they are now getting hidden into the gap to the wheel
- MAND_Ground_position needs a rename, the "MAND_" has to go

- RV_Rear_Wing_Profiles_V01 Seems to be pretty small. How would rotating profile elements fit into here?
- Rear wheels seem to wide, should be 375mm
- Front wheels also too wide? Should be 280mm

It would be good esp. if someone could confirm the last three items. I am not sure about the wheels, as the width could be the "flat" part of the wheel or it could include the walls.
Also we might have to have another look into the regs., regarding the wing profile volumes.

I am also working on the 2026 calendar. When we start, mainly depends on when we can get the CAD files finalized.

[Ft5fTL]

What i saw on the pre-season tests the diffuser cascade part is very simillar across the teams. I believe it is a standart issued part, so instead of a volume, we can have a mandatory part.

I dont mind loosing the brake ducts but imo at least the rear brake duct volume should stay.

Should the wing profiles need to fit in the RV_Rear_Wing_Profiles_V01 on rotation? Because i dont think this one would fit:

[CAEdevice]

Rollhoop needs to be separate from monocoque
OK, separated. They are now two different parts.

RV_Diffuser_Cascades_V01 should be more of a box, rather than forcing the overall design?
For the moment, I have kept it as a volume. It is already a fairly constraining volume, so we should still be reasonably close to reality. In any case, please let me know if you would prefer a common identical part for everyone, as indeed seems to be the case in the FIA regulations.

RV_Suspension_cover_* should only be seperated front to back, not left and right as well
OK, fixed.

RV_Suspension_cover_* is in addition to the RV section also in the Wheels_and_suspensions section
This point is not clear to me.

MAND_Suspension_front_minimum_section_V01 front and back need to get mirrored to also the rhs
It needed to be mirrored to the RHS as well. OK, done.

Do we get rid of brake duct scoops? In real F1 they are now getting hidden into the gap to the wheel
OK, the brake ducts have been reduced to a minimal shape. It is a compromise, but we are still very close to the 2026 Formula 1 cars.

MAND_Ground_position needs a rename, the "MAND_" has to go
OK, the “MAND_” prefix has been removed, and a specific subassembly has been created just for the reference system. It has been modeled with solids so as to avoid any ambiguity.

RV_Rear_Wing_Profiles_V01 Seems to be pretty small. How would rotating profile elements fit into here?
I agree with the observation that they should fit within the volume when in the closed position.

Rear wheels seem to wide, should be 375mm
OK, corrected. This also required small modifications to the suspension and the wheel hub.

Front wheels also too wide? Should be 280mm
Corrected, exactly as done for the rear wheels.

STEP will be provided soon

[yinlad]

Rollhoop needs to be separate from monocoque
OK, separated. They are now two different parts.

RV_Diffuser_Cascades_V01 should be more of a box, rather than forcing the overall design?
For the moment, I have kept it as a volume. It is already a fairly constraining volume, so we should still be reasonably close to reality. In any case, please let me know if you would prefer a common identical part for everyone, as indeed seems to be the case in the FIA regulations.

RV_Suspension_cover_* should only be seperated front to back, not left and right as well
OK, fixed.

RV_Suspension_cover_* is in addition to the RV section also in the Wheels_and_suspensions section
This point is not clear to me.

MAND_Suspension_front_minimum_section_V01 front and back need to get mirrored to also the rhs
It needed to be mirrored to the RHS as well. OK, done.

Do we get rid of brake duct scoops? In real F1 they are now getting hidden into the gap to the wheel
OK, the brake ducts have been reduced to a minimal shape. It is a compromise, but we are still very close to the 2026 Formula 1 cars.

MAND_Ground_position needs a rename, the "MAND_" has to go
OK, the “MAND_” prefix has been removed, and a specific subassembly has been created just for the reference system. It has been modeled with solids so as to avoid any ambiguity.

RV_Rear_Wing_Profiles_V01 Seems to be pretty small. How would rotating profile elements fit into here?
I agree with the observation that they should fit within the volume when in the closed position.

Rear wheels seem to wide, should be 375mm
OK, corrected. This also required small modifications to the suspension and the wheel hub.

Front wheels also too wide? Should be 280mm
Corrected, exactly as done for the rear wheels.

STEP will be provided soon

Re diffuser cascade I don’t mind a standard part but we should allow some degree of rotation/placement so it can be aligned to the flow correctly. Otherwise I don’t mind the current volume either as it’s pretty restricting

[CAEdevice]

Rollhoop needs to be separate from monocoque
OK, separated. They are now two different parts.

RV_Diffuser_Cascades_V01 should be more of a box, rather than forcing the overall design?
For the moment, I have kept it as a volume. It is already a fairly constraining volume, so we should still be reasonably close to reality. In any case, please let me know if you would prefer a common identical part for everyone, as indeed seems to be the case in the FIA regulations.

RV_Suspension_cover_* should only be seperated front to back, not left and right as well
OK, fixed.

RV_Suspension_cover_* is in addition to the RV section also in the Wheels_and_suspensions section
This point is not clear to me.

MAND_Suspension_front_minimum_section_V01 front and back need to get mirrored to also the rhs
It needed to be mirrored to the RHS as well. OK, done.

Do we get rid of brake duct scoops? In real F1 they are now getting hidden into the gap to the wheel
OK, the brake ducts have been reduced to a minimal shape. It is a compromise, but we are still very close to the 2026 Formula 1 cars.

MAND_Ground_position needs a rename, the "MAND_" has to go
OK, the “MAND_” prefix has been removed, and a specific subassembly has been created just for the reference system. It has been modeled with solids so as to avoid any ambiguity.

RV_Rear_Wing_Profiles_V01 Seems to be pretty small. How would rotating profile elements fit into here?
I agree with the observation that they should fit within the volume when in the closed position.

Rear wheels seem to wide, should be 375mm
OK, corrected. This also required small modifications to the suspension and the wheel hub.

Front wheels also too wide? Should be 280mm
Corrected, exactly as done for the rear wheels.

STEP will be provided soon

Re diffuser cascade I don’t mind a standard part but we should allow some degree of rotation/placement so it can be aligned to the flow correctly. Otherwise I don’t mind the current volume either as it’s pretty restricting

Yes, I also think that the restrictive volume solution, without making it an identical part for everyone, is a good approach because it allows each car’s geometry to be adapted without introducing additional rotation parameters to assign to an existing shared component.
So I would leave that detail as it is. If anything, let me know whether you would prefer it to be more or less restrictive.

[CAEdevice]

Latest release: https://www.caedevice.net/SERVER/MVRC/2 ... 26_V03.zip

[k.ko100v]

From my perspective, the diffuser cascade is positioned forward, compared with the actual cars.

200mm shift towards the back should be more representative.


In addition, is it possible to add volume for front wheel deflectors as we see from the actual cars?


There are also deflectors between the rear wheels and the diffuser cascade, but I cannot find good picture.
Maybe this one:

[CAEdevice]

From my perspective, the diffuser cascade is positioned forward, compared with the actual cars.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HBmAKEpXkAA ... ame=medium
200mm shift towards the back should be more representative.
https://i.imgur.com/RfIWCfD.png

In addition, is it possible to add volume for front wheel deflectors as we see from the actual cars?
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HA3autba8AA ... name=large

There are also deflectors between the rear wheels and the diffuser cascade, but I cannot find good picture.
Maybe this one:
https://i.imgur.com/v2r76A4.png

I agree. Next update in a few days