King of the Mountain: New race car designed with Autodesk Fusion aims to break Pikes Peak records

Robin Shute has earned the title “King of the Mountain” by conquering one of the most dangerous motorsport events in the world not once, but a record-breaking four times. 

At Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, drivers race 12.42 miles to the summit of Pikes Peak in Colorado, climbing nearly 5,000 vertical feet through 156 unforgiving turns to a finish line more than 14,000 feet above sea level. With no guardrails, rapidly changing weather, and just one run, the mountain has become one of racing’s ultimate proving grounds since the event first began in 1916. 

For the past two years, Shute has been channeling everything he’s learned from dominating the mountain into designing and building his own ultimate race car from the ground up: Sendycar V1. Developed through his company Shute Dynamics, it represents his vision for the next generation of hill climb racing: lightweight, aerodynamic, and engineered specifically to become the fastest car ever up Pikes Peak. 

Turning vision into reality 

Shute began racing as a hobby with his coworkers when he worked as an engineer at Tesla. He also discovered Autodesk Fusion, which became essential to his design process. His first competitive car at Pikes Peak, nicknamed “The Wolf,” was originally an Italian chassis that he and his team heavily modified. Despite the car’s potential, their debut year in 2018 was plagued by engine issues and bad weather, preventing them from showing their true capability. But it laid the groundwork and determination for what came next. 

With lessons learned and a growing understanding of the mountain and designs for the car, Shute returned stronger in 2019 and claimed his first win. Since then, he’s proved that victory was more than, as he calls it, a “flash in the pan.” With Yokohama now as a partner and sponsor, Shute is debuting Sendycar V1. 

“I’ve had four overall wins with The Wolf, but I really want to go and set the overall record with the fastest car ever up the mountain with Sendycar V1,” Shute says. “This journey started in earnest about two years ago, and I was able to ramp up really quickly with Fusion’s ease of use. It allows you to design professional-grade parts, whether it’s with generative design or CAE. I’ve done the entire function of an OEM to design a whole car by myself using software that costs only hundreds of dollars.” 

You can create models quickly, output them for CFD testing and iterate in under an hour. That’s unheard of

“My design philosophy for Sendycar V1 is to be simple, lightweight, and use modern tools and manufacturing processes to design and make the next-generation race car,” he adds “There’s no real corporate pushing and pulling of what this car needs to be. It’s simply the best car I can make. The performance, physics, and tools around me steer the design.” 

Creating the ultimate, aerodynamic Sendycar V1 

One of Shutes’s greatest advantages for Sendycar V1 lies in aerodynamic innovation, which is made possible in a single platform with Fusion. Much of his focus on aerodynamics is modeled and developed largely by Fusion’s T-Spline modeling and simulation tools. 

“T-Splines in Fusion are really important,” he says. “You can create models quickly, output them for CFD testing, and iterate in less than an hour. That’s unheard of in the industry.” 

“I designed the final body surfaces in T-Splines,” he continues. “It’s been huge to have that capability. Not many CAD programs can get close to it. It’s especially impressive as someone from the OEM world who knows full-time employees are doing surfaces all the time on just portions of the car, not a whole car, and one person doing it. I probably have hundreds of evolutions of the car in Fusion.” 

This workflow and flexibility helped Shute design surfaces so aerodynamically efficient that, as he puts it, “it could drive upside down in a tunnel at 80 mph.” 

Generative design infuses new potential 

Shute also attributes much of his design success — from suspension to bell housing — to the use of AI-powered generative design in Fusion. Lightweighting, strength, and stiffness are paramount for his priorities. 

According to Shute, learning and using generative design has evolved his design philosophy completely when it comes to conceptualisng and designing certain components. Even the entire rear of the car was completed with generative design, creating “this blend of an extreme race car that people are familiar with and kind of alien-looking technology that sparks their imagination when they see it,” he says. 

“Generative design is something I love because it ensures parts are fully optimised, lightweight, and strong enough,” Shute says. “There’s no room for extras in these car designs, and I can make things very multi-functional to combine different part functions into one part, such as the rear shock absorber mount. I have added the bodywork mount, the exhaust mount, and the heave spring mount all to that one part, which weighs just 100g.”

“Everything must be optimized because the competition is stiff,” he continues. “There’s no room for being ‘good enough’ because it must be the best to compete. There are OEMs that put tens of millions of dollars into their cars. You really need to lean into modern technology, and that’s where generative design and all the professional-grade capabilities available with Fusion help us succeed.

Race ready 

In June, Shute will put Sendycar V1 to the test in the Unlimited Division of the Pike’s Peak race. With all the intensive work and testing now nearing completion, he’s ready for it. 

“With Fusion as the development platform, I can take Sendycar V1 to the next level of performance,” Shute says. “I can’t wait to see what we do on the mountain.”