From the race track to the caravan site…

The Coast team are huge fans of the Out & About Live website, especially their interesting features on aspects of the leisure industry. While searching through their back catalogue of articles this year, we came across a great piece on how Swift Group is using Formula 1 technology to influence its designs.

The caravan and motorhome manufacturer has employed a motorsport aerodynamics expert, Dr. Rob Lewis, to improve the efficiency of its latest models in order to reduce fuel consumption and improve stability.
 
“The belief has always been that the air flow around the towcar has such a massive affect on the towed vehicle that a study of the aerodynamics of a caravan alone was a pointless exercise, until we reviewed these principles,” explained Swift Group technical director Andy Spacey.

This was Dr. Lewis’ cue to join the firm, using state of the art 3D lasers scans to create virtual versions of Swift’s most popular models.

“Finding a partner with the facilities and expertise to fully laser scan a large caravan to the level of detail required for this study and to then convert this scanned data into a useable format was a real challenge for the team,” Spacey continued.

“We studied the flow around each of the models to understand areas of thrust and drag on all the models used. The results were surprising with the smaller features not having as great an impact as first thought,” he added. “The size and shape of the wake on the rear of the towcar and how this affected the caravan was a surprise to the team, this led us to consider how we could optimise the airflow to further improve stability and fuel efficiency.”

For more information on Swift Group’s findings, click here to read the feature in full.

Whether you’re a Swift owner or you prefer another make of caravan, Coast can protect your touring vehicle against damage and accidents thanks to our tailored caravan insurance policies.

For a touring caravan insurance quotation, call our sales team on Freephone 0800 614 849 or click here for an instant online quotation.