Black Falcon Integrates 3D Scanning into Motorsport Engineering at the Nürburgring

For a racing team competing at the Nürburgring Nordschleife, vehicle preparation is a continuous engineering process. Components need to be checked, repairs need to be verified, and the car needs to be set up with a high level of consistency before it returns to the track.

Black Falcon has been working in this environment for more than 20 years. Based at the Nürburgring, the team has won the Nürburgring 24 Hours twice and achieved more than 300 class victories. With the introduction of its new Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, Black Falcon has also expanded its technical capabilities through a partnership with SHINING 3D.

For the team, the value of 3D scanning goes beyond obtaining measurements. It provides digital information that can be used across different stages of its motorsport engineering workflow.

Black Falcon in NLS 6-hour race

Precision as Part of Race Preparation

Motorsport is an environment where teams are constantly looking for ways to improve. At the Nordschleife, competition is particularly demanding, and vehicle setup can have a direct effect on performance.

Black Falcon considers precision an important part of both racing and everyday workshop operations. Accurate information is needed not only to prepare the car but also to investigate problems, maintain quality, and make engineering decisions.

This is where SHINING 3D technology has become part of the team’s daily work. According to Black Falcon, the technology helps improve processes and quality while providing additional possibilities for analyzing components and identifying patterns in the vehicle.

SHINING 3D and the Black Falcon team

FreeScan Trak Nova for Automotive Inspection and Documentation

Black Falcon uses the FreeScan Trak Nova for a range of applications, including chassis and crash-structure analysis and documentation of used vehicle surfaces.

A component such as a race car splitter can be scanned to capture its geometry in digital form. Instead of working only with the physical part, engineers can retain the scanned data for inspection, documentation, and further engineering applications.

This approach is particularly useful in motorsport because components are exposed to demanding operating conditions and may need to be checked or analyzed repeatedly. Having digital data available gives the team another way to understand the condition and geometry of the vehicle.

The scanner therefore serves a role beyond conventional measurement. It becomes a connection between the physical car and the team’s digital engineering processes.

FreeScan Trak Nova and FreeScan UE Nova 3D scanning

Using 3D Scanning to Verify a Rebuilt Race Car

One of the clearest examples came during the Nürburgring 24 Hours, when a Black Falcon race car suffered a serious crash.

The damage was substantial, but the car could still be rebuilt rather than replaced. Once the repair work was completed, however, the team needed to establish whether the vehicle had been repaired correctly before putting it back into competition.

This was particularly important because the rebuilt car would return to the Nordschleife and be driven at the limits of performance.

Black Falcon used a SHINING 3D scanner to verify the repaired areas. The scan provided digital information that could be used to assess the result of the repair and confirm that the work had been executed correctly.

3D scanning data checking

For the team, this creates a practical inspection step between workshop repair and track use. Rather than relying solely on visual checks or conventional measurements, engineers can use 3D scanning to examine the geometry of the repaired vehicle.

Supporting Re-Engineering and CFD Simulation

The applications do not stop with inspection. Black Falcon also sees opportunities to use scanned data for re-engineering and simulation. One example is the development and analysis of the car’s splitter. The physical component can be scanned first, creating digital geometry that can then be used as the basis for CFD simulation.

Engineering a part in EXModel software

This offers an alternative to relying entirely on physical testing. As Black Falcon points out, wind-channel testing can be expensive, while a scan-to-simulation workflow can help reduce both time and cost during certain development activities.

The approach also makes it easier to bring an existing physical component into a digital engineering environment. Engineers can work from the actual geometry of the part rather than having to recreate it manually.

A Broader Digital Workflow for Motorsport

Black Falcon sees 3D scanning as increasingly important to its operations. By combining its motorsport experience with SHINING 3D’s 3D measurement technology, the team can bring more digital data into decisions that were traditionally made around the physical car.

At the Nürburgring, that capability supports the work taking place long before a race begins—from checking a rebuilt chassis to examining an aerodynamic component and preparing the car for its next session on track.