VIR adds second motorsports lab

BY JOHN R. CRANE
Media General News Service
Published: April 30, 2008

The Virginia Institute for Performance Engineering and Research (VIPER) has ratcheted up its program a notch, adding a second motorsports lab at Virginia International Raceway.
Old Dominion University’s Motorsports Engineering Lab, which opened Friday, is an engine and drive-train lab located in VIR’s paddock and will be used during weekend races to evaluate cars’ horsepower and other capabilities.
In addition, researchers and students earning advanced degrees in motorsports engineering will use the facility to examine the possibilities of alternative fuels, said Deborah Morehead, communications and public relations manager at the Institute for Advanced Learning & Research.
Morehead said the facility will bring economic activity, driven by the racing industry, to the region.
“It’s creating something that’s very attractive to the race industry, to come here and spend money,” Morehead said Tuesday.
It also will bring students from Virginia Tech and ODU seeking graduate degrees and add about a half-dozen jobs in the lab, she said.
“It’s going to be the Mecca for motorsports research,” Morehead said.
The 3,400-square-foot building includes a classroom, lab and office space.
VIPER is part of a partnership with the Institute, Virginia Tech, ODU and VIR.
VIPER’s first lab started at VIR in April 2007 on Ace Drive, a year to the day before Friday’s opening of the second lab, Morehead said.
The Ace Drive facility stores a Roehrig shock dynamometer and an 8-post test rig - the only one commercially available in North America.
The equipment is used to gauge a vehicle and its suspension’s dynamic response to a driving profile, Morehead said.
At Friday’s opening of the second lab, U.S. Rep. Virgil Goode, R-5th, praised the facility as another step in alternative-fuel research and efforts to reduce dependence on foreign energy.
“With the opening of this second facility at VIR, VIPER will continue to contribute to the important work that is being done in Southside Virginia to develop alternative sources of energy to power the vehicles of the future and end our dependence on foreign oil,” Goode said in a written statement.