Aerodynamics

Designers at the Swift Group are constantly looking for new ways to improve our caravan ranges and recently enlisted the expertise of Dr Rob Lewis and his team, consultants to the Formula 1 industry, to prove that when it comes to aerodynamic design and cost saving rewards for our customers we lead the way.

Rob is one of the UK's leading Computational Fluid Dynamics experts and tested Swift's products against its nearest competitors.

These tests showed that Swift Caravans are up to 13% more aerodynamic than a leading competitor.

For design dynamics and leading specification that really do give you better fuel consumption and safer towing make your next caravan a Swift, Sterling or Sprite model.

Select a test below to see the results:

2013 Swift Conqueror vs Leading Competitor Caravan

2013 Swift Conqueror/ConquerorLeading Competitor Caravan

  • The 2013 Swift Conqueror has 10% lower non-dimensional drag across a range of typical tow vehicles than a leading competitor caravan.
  • When considering a typical family estate tow car, the 2013 Conqueror has 13% lower non-dimensional drag than a leading competitor caravan.
    • This equates to a reduction of the drag force of 19.2Kg
    • This, in theory, equates to a 9% reduction in fuel consumption, meaning on a typical 2.0 litre diesel tow car, the miles per gallon will increase from 30mpg to 32.7mpg

* Test data on file

2013 Swift Challenger Sport/Challenger SE Leading Competitor Caravan

2013 Swift Challenger Sport/Challenger SELeading Competitor Caravan

  • The 2013 Challenger Sport/Challenger SE has 3% lower non-dimensional drag across a range of typical tow vehicles than a leading competitor caravan.
  • When considering a typical family estate tow car, the 2013 Challenger Sport / Challenger SE has 7% lower non-dimensional drag than a leading competitor caravan.
    • This equates to a reduction of the drag force of 9.2Kg.
    • This, in theory, equates to a 4.7% reduction in fuel consumption, meaning on a typical 2.0 litre diesel tow car, the miles per gallon will increase from 30mpg to 31.4mpg.

    • * Test data on file

Aerodynamic Testing videos

Dr. Rob Lewis Profile

Rob Lewis graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Leeds University in 1991 and won a PhD scholarship to stay at Leeds and study CFD codes for combustion. After being awarded his PhD in 1994, Rob joined FLUENT Europe where he managed a team of support and consulting engineers.

In late 1997, Rob left FLUENT to start AdvantageCFD (A-CFD) with Adrian Reynard at Reynard Motorsports. A-CFD supported all of Reynard Motorsports designs from Champ Car to the BAR F1 cars. Rob grew the A-CFD organization to 25 people by late 2006 when it was an essential part of Honda F1 Aerodynamics Dept. AdvantageCFD succeeded in setting the standard in motorsport CFD from inception to its closure in 2007, including Rob's pioneering use of OpenFOAM.

The switch in focus away from any outside consulting by the Honda F1 Racing Team gave Rob and some of the team at A-CFD the chance to continue working with their clients by creating a new company, TotalSim Ltd, which they formed as a largely employee owned company in early 2007.

Currently, Rob is Managing Director of TotalSim Ltd. which employs 17 staff in Brackley, UK and works on a wide range of projects from motorsport to green energy.

Recent projects have included road car aerodynamic optimisation, aerodynamics support for an F1 team, development of a new aero concept for a Le Mans LMP1 car, work for UKSport on track cycling, and other Olympic sports.