IndyCar
Honda Performance Development - Andretti Autosport and Schmidt Peterson Motorsports
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Vehicle dynamics simulation software development and application support with contributions to multiple Indy 500 wins.
Ahlman Engineering Results
Results Driven
Wins & Awards
NASCAR Sprint Cup
Ford Racing - Roush Fenway Racing and Richard Petty Motorsports
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Significant chassis development contribution to 30 Wins including:
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Record 9 wins in one season with Carl Edwards
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Daytona 500 champion (when the track was rough and required handling)
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Second place in the Championship
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Road Course wins
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4 out of 7 races won in which Ahlman led design and development
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- Ahlman received the 2007 Jack Award (Roush Fenway Racing MVP Award)
Ford GT
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2004 Ford Motor Company Chassis Technical Excellence Award Recipient
- Specifically for a method Ahlman invented and developed to predict the required frame stiffness for the Ford GT
- Led chassis and vehicle dynamics architecture, design, development and system engineering, beginning to end, on this historic vehicle
CART ChampCar - Team Rahal
- Chassis development contribution to 9 wins
- Second place in the Championship
Innovations
Ford GT
Originated, Developed and Applied
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Completed the production suspension geometry and bushing stiffnesses that met all kinematics and compliance targets, with signifciant commonality, in two weeks time
- One common upper control arm at all four corners
- Three bushings total for all eight arms
- Utilized four simultaneous kinematics and compliance Design of Experiements (DOE's) to achieve these results
- Ford Chassis Technical Excellence award for frame torsional stiffness target methodology successfully applied to the Ford GT
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Control arm fastener strategy
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Threaded into the frame castings- a first for Ford Motor Company
- Included specific tapered counter bores for assembly and clamp load
- Completed all joint design, fastener calculations and and resultant sizing
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Threaded into the frame castings- a first for Ford Motor Company
Roush Fenway Racing NASCAR Chassis Development Process and Application
Originated, Developed and Applied
- Race week “Playbook” content and method
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Design of Experiments (DOE) Tools and Methods
- Rough road and handling combined including shock optimization
- Metrics, metrics grouping, which ones when
- Handling event methodology and definition
Team Rahal CART ChampCar Chassis Development Process and Application
Originated, Developed and Applied in 1998 by Ahlman and still applied at Ford Racing today
- Vehicle Dynamic Design of Experiments (DOE) Optimization and Sensitivity Spreadsheet Analysis
- DOE Smooth Road analysis
- Stepwise regression routine critical to DOE methods
- DOE design matrix strategy
- Separation of flow for a dynamic damper model to allow data gathering, usage and analysis of individual flow path data (fixed bleed, adjustable bleed, shinstacks, etc) rather than having to test every combination