Case Study: BMI Corporation achieves race-winning aerodynamic gains with 3D Systems' Geomagic Design X

3D Scanning Helps NASCAR Cars Fly Like The Wind

BMI Corporation and sister company Advanced Vehicle Research (AVR) provide CFD-based aerodynamic engineering for NASCAR teams, facing the challenge of extracting tiny performance gains within NASCAR’s very tight templates. With races decided by fractions of a second and wind-tunnel results prone to large errors, AVR needed a highly accurate, repeatable way to capture each largely handmade car—especially the undercarriage where downforce is generated.

AVR combined a Konica Minolta laser scanner with 3D Systems’ Geomagic Design X to capture ~150 scans (≈20 million points reduced to 5 million), align and repair the data, and create parametric NURBS models for iterative CFD analysis. This workflow lets them tune small changes that translate into meaningful performance—e.g., a 5% drag reduction ≈ 25 hp (~0.5 mph lap gain) or a 0.1 downforce-coefficient increase ≈ 1.8 mph—providing more accurate, faster insights than traditional wind-tunnel approaches and a competitive edge under evolving NASCAR rules.

BMI Corporation

Michael Henderson

Co-Founder