AI strategists, Formula 1, even an electric NASCAR? We talk racing with GM.
Chevrolet provided flights from Washington, DC, to Charlotte and accommodation so Ars could drive the Blazer EV SS. I also took the opportunity to interview Ken Morris. Ars does not accept paid editorial content.
CONCORD, N.C.—We weren’t allowed cameras past the lobby of General Motors’ shiny new Charlotte Technical Center. It’s the automaker’s new motorsport hub in the heart of NASCAR country, but the 130,000-square-foot (12,000 m2) facility is for much more than just stock cars. There are cutting-edge driver-in-the-loop simulators, shaker rigs for punishing suspension, and even an entire gym for drivers to work on their fitness.
It’s also home to GM’s racing command centers—conference rooms with walls of monitors where engineers and strategists provide remote support for GM’s teams at their respective racetracks. It’s pretty busy most weekends; this Saturday and Sunday, Chevrolet is racing in both IndyCar (in Alabama) and NASCAR (in Texas), next week, it’s Chevrolet and Cadillac in Belgium for the World Endurance Championship and Northern California for IMSA, plus NASCAR in Kansas. Starting next year, F1’s 24 races a year will be added to the mix as well.
The technical center had been sanitized before our group of journalists arrived, perhaps rendering the camera ban moot anyway. The smells, on the other hand, were intriguing—solvents, 3D printers, some other rapid prototyping, or maybe all of it all at once. If only websites were scratch and sniff.
