Syntel Proves in Racing, Nice Applications Finish First

Can an IT solutions company make an Indy car run faster? Apparently so.

Recently the Target Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR) team issued a joint challenge to Syntel and Microsoft: find a way for team members to communicate and share complex information in real-time amidst the roar and confusion of the track. The first result was a custom application—one of the first for the wireless Tablet PC—that enables race engineers to enter information on portable Tablet PCs connected through a wireless network and also send handwritten instant messages between teams. The second result? Three first place finishes and two seconds. And that’s just the beginning.

Communication Equals Speed
TCGR runs three teams on the NASCAR Nextel Cup circuit and two in the Indy Racing League (IRL), sponsored by Target.With two or three cars in nearly every race, communications between the different Ganassi teams is crucial. Every race hinges on the huge number of important decisions racing engineers must make. Information from practice sessions and race pit stops on everything from how to equip the car, to tuning changes, driving strategy, pit stop planning, etc. can make the difference between a victory lap and a long ride home. Race engineers rarely have time to sit down and interact with a conventional PC application. Historically, this information was jotted down on notepads and entered into spreadsheets later, making it difficult to find and very hard to communicate to sister teams at the same race. Invaluable data was going to waste and a valuable edge was being lost.

"Sharing data between the two or three TCGR pits also used to be a slow manual process," said Mark Paxton, R&D Engineer for TCGR. "The engineers tried to talk on cell phones, which was difficult because of the noise of the track, or they wrote messages on paper and had them hand-carried to the other pit."

Take One Tablet And…
When the Tablet PC was introduced, Paxton felt that the new device might be perfect for the pit environment. He spoke to the team's IT partner, Microsoft, who offered to assist in producing a custom Windows XP Tablet PC application. The tablet PC's pen and writing pad can input handwritten text into applications, and when the Tablet PC is connected to a wireless network users can instantly send and receive hand written messages and record information wherever they happen to be.

Gentlemen, Start The Development
Microsoft led the development in the early phases of the project and then turned the project over to Syntel. "Within about two months we began using the program during actual racing and Syntel has continued to work on enhancement and upgrades," said Paxton.

The application enables users to track changes to the car setup made by each racing team. Racing engineers can view and analyze historical data relating to the car, track, and event. Syntel has also added features that allow the application to accept information from wireless sensors located on the race vehicles and from servers located at the track. Planned enhancements include a direct data link to TCGR headquarters, allowing race engineers to perform real-time analysis and making data feeds such as weather reports available to pit crews.

Running Fast On .NET Power
"The software was developed using Microsoft's C# programming language in the .NET environment," said Devarayan Subbu, Syntel's development leader. "Race engineers are usually moving too fast to stop and type information into a keyboard. We set it up so they can scribble down notes and the application will automatically convert them into text entries, or they can make drawings or annotate documents. We also took advantage of the messenger feature in Live Communications Server to allow users to send notes and documents to each other. Users can also record information while they are offline and as soon as they are connected again, the software immediately replicates with the server."

So Far, So Much Better
"Microsoft got the project off to a great start and Syntel brought it to completion, demonstrating an enormous amount of enthusiasm and dedication," Paxton said. "All of our teams are using the system now and they have all provided very positive feedback. The biggest advantage is that we have dramatically improved the process of tuning a car to a particular racetrack… giving our teams a jump on the competition. We have much greater opportunity to take advantage of lessons learned in previous races and to transfer this knowledge throughout our organization."

The new application has already helped CGR substantially improve their Indy Racing League (IRL) performance. Since implementing the new system, CGR driver Scott Dixon won the 2003 IndyCar Championship for Ganassi, had nine top-five finishes in 2006, four race victories in 2007, and in 2008 won a record six races and took the checkered flag in the Indianapolis 500 en route to the 2008 IndyCar Championship.