Speedo’s LZR Racer swimming suit was first seen in action at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. Unfortunately, it was banned by the Fédération Internationale de Natation (FINA) due to its enormous advantage. But thanks to Speedo’s Fastskin Racing System, it looks like the newly redesigned LZR Racer swimsuit will be seeing the light of day once again at the 2012 London Summer Olympics. Fastskin is actually designed using engineering simulation software from ANSYS.
When the Fastskin suit, cap, and goggle is worn, the suit can reduce full-body passive drag by up to 16.6 percent, improve oxygen economy by up to 11 percent, and reduce active body drag by up to 5.2 percent. Speedo conducted a number of pool tests of the new racing system, using professional athletes including Natalie Coughlin, Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps of the U.S.
“Engineering simulation has been absolutely critical in launching this world-first concept,” head of Speedo’s Aqualab research and development facility Tom Waller commented. “For the first time, competitive swimmers can use a cohesive, hydrodynamic solution that will help them cut through the water with maximum efficiency. In developing the Fastskin Racing System, ANSYS software gave us the confidence that our designs would perform as expected in the real world – and saved us a huge amount of resources that we would otherwise have had to invest in physical testing.”
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