
Team Velarde 26
A project designed to increase and improve Juan Velarde’s training sessions before races. The Team requested “a tool that would exhaustively analyze the flight telemetry and also enable a spatial time study of the optimal lines for different Red Bull Air Race circuits”.
What is Team Velarde 26?Team Velarde is a Spanish aeronautics competition team that participates in the fastest motor racing championship in the world: the Red Bull Air Race. Comprised of professionals in various fields, its greatest exponent is Juan Velarde. Velarde is one of the most outstanding figures of air sports in Spain. He began piloting planes at the age of 16 and is now an Airbus A330 captain for Iberia, a company he joined at the age of 22.
In 1999, he began his sports career in aerial acrobatics. Five years later, he joined the Spanish national team. He participated in all European and World championships from 2004 to 2011. To date, he has won two gold medals, four silver medals and one bronze at the Spanish Championship. With the national team, he has won two silver medals and one bronze over the years. He was named a Top-Level Athlete in 2006 by the Spanish High Council for Sport.
Besides the Red Bull Air Race, he participates in aerial acrobatics exhibitions along with his colleagues from the Bravo3/Repsol team and pilots planes such as the famous Texan T-6 for the Infante de Orleans Foundation.
The need explained to Simloc by Team Velarde 26
The complex nature of the Red Bull Air Race competition led Team Velarde to requesting the collaboration of Simloc to increase and improve Velarde’s training sessions before races. The Team requested“ a tool that would exhaustively analyze the flight telemetry and also enable a spatial time study of the optimal lining up for different Red Bull Air Race circuits”. After studying the specifications, the relationship between Team Velarde and Simloc was planned over time; in other words, working month after month to enhance the processes and achieve the best sports results.
Solution provided by Simloc to Team Velarde
In response to the request, Simloc developed Competition Flight Analysis Software known as AVC-SR, which meets the spatial time study needs and is capable of modeling and designing the ideal lining up for pre-competition training and connecting all race resources to accelerate data dumping for later analysis in real time.
A constantly evolving software
The work was done in collaboration with Team Velarde members like Anselmo Gámez, who has been with Juan since the beginning. Anselmo is a captain and instructor at Iberia for the Airbus A320 and also pilot of the Spanish Aerial Acrobatics Team. His list of achievements includes having been the absolute Spanish champion and a medalist at the European and World Championships. As part of Team Velarde, and along with aeronautical engineer Miguel Frutos, he works on the strategic part of the sports project.
Once the first phase was delivered and implemented to full satisfaction, Simloc continued to develop and innovate in different lines of work such as expanding the AVC-SR tool to increase its scope and analytical potential with feedback from the Team after the previous season. This proves the vitality of the software, which is constantly evolving race after race.
A new simulation environment
Work is currently being done to design and develop a new simulation environment to get more reliable and effective results. The AVC-SR software will generate a high-performance specialized training suite to improve circuit visualization and the analysis of data obtained. It is a Medium that reinforces the team in “boxes” during a race to improve the technical support available at each point of a competition.
These lines of collaboration prove Simloc’s ongoing work with Team Velarde as part of its commitment to R+D+i to achieve innovative solutions that can distinguish and satisfy such a professional team as the one that represents our Red Bull Air Race participants.
Testimony
Juan Velarde’s testimonial
“The work done by Simloc is a great step towards achieving our goal, which is to win. Now, we are much more flexible and competitive thanks to the tool implemented.
Aerial competition requires great physical, mental and strategic preparation. Plus, I had to learn to adapt aviation techniques to another technique, which is competition, where getting ahead just a few milliseconds can get you on the podium.
Although many factors influence a race score, we can undeniably work more and better to enhance my flying technique in each scenario that arises in the Red Bull Air Race in the different circuits thanks to the all-new system supplied by our friends at Simloc.”
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