The Wavey Dynamics Podcast Wavey Dynamics

In episode 003 of our podcast, we're sitting with Ulrich Schulz, who has recently retired from his role as Chief of Powertrain Design at BMW Motorsport.

From his start in 1986 until 2023, he was instrumental in leading the way on some of BMWs finest motorsport days, beginning in F1, through the V10 era, winning Le Mans with the V12 LMR, countless DTM victories and more.

We go in depth into some of his greatest memories and the wealth of technical experience that he has gained at BMW.

Join us for the masterclass.

Be Inspired

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00:00 - Start & Intro
05:43 - First Job after university; BMW Motorsport
15:04 - The story of the McLaren F1 engine
19:43 - The Powertrain Design Process
24:55 - Innovations - F1 & Road
26:43 - What drives architecture?
30:42 - Influence of V-Angle on Firing Order & Cross-Plane vs. Flat Plane
40:26 - The challenges of high RPM & BMW's first pneumatic valvetrain
51:27 - Power & drivability
56:55 - Thermal efficiency & Lean/Rich Combustion
01:06:05 - Reliability & oils
01:14:59 - Designing an Engine w/ No Regs
01:22:19 - The Evolution of the Design Process
01:29:30 - Hydrogen Fuels
01:35:43 - Wrap up and Fun Questions

Pay attention.



This is one of the most inspirational conversations I've had.



Here I sit with Melvyn Downes, retired SAS (Special Air Service) operator to talk about his life and experiences in the military and special forces, where Melvyn developed the unique and highly specialised skill set required to lead himself and teams of people in extremely challenging, high pressured environments where good leadership and organisation measure the difference between mission success and tragedy.


This podcast initially started as a focus on lessons appropriate for motorsport, but I quickly realised that while we did touch on a lot of essential lessons and wisdom relevant to our sport, they more importantly apply to any person with a commitment to be the best version of themselves.



I have much admiration for these individuals in the special forces who relentlessly dedicate themselves to be the best at what they do in an environment where the motivator is a potential loss of life, sharp tools indeed.



Through a career of constant improvement and progress across such a wide range of skillsets which transfer to so many areas of life and business, the special forces community are an untapped source of wisdom and learning.



In this 2 hour conversation we barely scratched the surface.. Definitely more coming, but for now.. Be inspired.



Melvyn:
https://www.instagram.com/melvyndownes/


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00:00 - Start

02:55 - Childhood experiences

16:40 - Journey into the military

20:53 - Northern Ireland tour

23:58 - First encounter with the SAS (Special Air Service)

39:16 - Encouraged to join the SAS

41:56 - Gulf War; leading men in combat

59:21 - SAS Selection

01:05:08 - High performance environments

01:22:30 - Qualities of high performing teams

01:35:19 - Qualities of strong leadership

01:45:36 - Bad leadership / thinking outside of the box

01:56:08 - Mindset & resilience

02:09:32 - Fun/Light questions

02:13:11 - What's next for Melvyn

Back for Episode 007 and it's a bit of a different and fun concept this time as Jahee and Mike take some time to explore what vehicle dynamicists would do given regulatory freedom.

The 5 key factors of performance we covered in episode 001 still apply here, so we're getting creative with where we'd go to get the best out of this.
How about cooled tyres, no safety structures, active suspension and four-wheel steering 😁

The second part of our conversation revolves around how we'd optimise the car for the three cornering phases of braking & entry, apex and exit.

Hope you enjoyed it as we did!

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Mike has a book published called "Ace Thinking" which takes the skills and experience he's gained developing race cars to create a framework for approaching tasks, engineering and otherwise.

Many of the approaches to problems you hear in these episodes are communicated in the book, which you can find on Amazon at: https://www.amazon.co.uk/ACE-Thinking...

All proceeds from the book go towards the Small Piece Trust.

Episode 06 and we are joined by expert dynamicist Mike Law to talk about Ride & Vertical Dynamics.

The responses of the sprung and unsprung masses of a racecar to accelerative inputs from the driver and the track surface are super important parameters to control in the development of performance and so this is a particularly interesting element to understand.

Here, we discuss the influence of ride performance on dynamics, why it is important, and the approach to development used in modern motorsport. We also finish off with a short community Q&A session.
Enjoy!

--

Mike has a book published called "Ace Thinking" which takes the skills and experience he's gained developing race cars to create a framework for approaching tasks, engineering and otherwise.

Many of the approaches to problems you hear in these episodes are communicated in the book, which you can find on Amazon at: https://www.amazon.co.uk/ACE-Thinking...

All proceeds from the book go towards the Small Piece Trust.

This episode is also available on Spotify and Apple under the title "Wavey Dynamics Insights"

Episode 05 and we are joined by expert dynamicist Mike Law to talk about Anti Geometries.



Implementing anti geometry into a suspension design is largely used to control the aerodynamic platform under longitudinal accelerations (throttle & braking) by generating forces oppose pitching moments.



It should be used with caution though, and understanding what you're doing is key.



Learn about it here. Enjoy!



--



Mike has a book published called "Ace Thinking" which takes the skills and experience he's gained developing race cars to create a framework for approaching tasks, engineering and otherwise.



Many of the approaches to problems you hear in these episodes are communicated in the book, which you can find on Amazon at: https://www.amazon.co.uk/ACE-Thinking...



All proceeds from the book go towards the Small Piece Trust.



This episode is also available on Spotify and Apple under the title "Wavey Dynamics Insights"

Returning again for Episode 04, we are joined by expert dynamicist Mike Law to talk about Ackermann Steering geometry.

Covering the three main modes of Ackermann implementation, we explore what it's used for, how to arrive at the level of Ackermann you need in a given application, and some things to avoid in the process.

Enjoy!

--

Mike has a book published called "Ace Thinking" which takes the skills and experience he's gained developing race cars to create a framework for approaching tasks, engineering and otherwise.

Many of the approaches to problems you hear in these episodes are communicated in the book, which you can find on Amazon at: https://www.amazon.co.uk/ACE-Thinking...

All proceeds from the book go towards the Small Piece Trust.

This episode is also available on Spotify and Apple under the title "Wavey Dynamics Insights"