Asetek: innovating to recreate the real racing feel

Asetek’s history of innovation is simply unique and fascinating. For more than two decades, they have been cooling high-end gaming PCs and supercomputers around the globe. Now they’re also using all that hardware and software know-how to produce best-in-class sim racing equipment. In order to achieve their goal, Asetek has recently penned a partnership with Pagani and Kevin Magnussen as well.

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About Asetek

Asetek (ASTK.OL), a global leader in mechatronic innovation, is a Danish garage-to-stock-exchange success story. Founded in 2000, Asetek established its innovative position as the leading OEM developer and producer of the all-in-one liquid cooler for all major PC & Enthusiast gaming brands.

In 2013, Asetek went public while expanding into energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly cooling solutions for data centres.

In 2021, Asetek introduced its line of products for next-level immersive SimSports gaming experiences. Asetek is headquartered in Denmark and has operations in China, Taiwan, and the United States.

Asetek and Mechatronics

Let’s find out why mechatronics is a key field to provide the best simulator equipment with André Eriksen, CEO of Asetek. “Actually, we have spent the last 20 years innovating and specializing in some key areas: mechanics, software and hardware. Combine these, and you get what is popularly called ‘mechatronics’. We are passionate about mechatronics and making high performance, precision components that benefit gamers and simulation enthusiasts around the world” – explained André Eriksen.

“For a racing simulator, you need all the mechatronics elements. In addition, we know how to mass-produce things. We’ve sold almost 10 million water cooling systems. It’s only been 17-18 months since I started thinking about simulators as a business concept. Currently, we have 30 people working on just this project. It’s been a wild ride – no doubt. Now we’re developing steering wheels, and many of our customers have already received their pedals. I do hope we can create a business that will grow at least the same size as our water-cooling concept.”

Quality and hardware testing

The Asetek method is: “We test, and we test, and we test – over and over again. And why do we do it? Because we want to develop the best sim racing pedals on the market.”

Asetek puts a lot of energy into durability testing as it’s the best way to understand and learn the quality side of things. There are some specific tests where they use not less than 90 bars of pressure to check the durability of their pedals.

“We can test out different materials to see if using a stronger material helps, and by doing so, we can find the optimal design. A simulation is an excellent tool, but it can’t beat tests in real-life conditions” – said one of the Asetek engineers.

As a result, high-quality products from Asetek make you feel like a real race driver.

Asetek and Pagani

Since 1998, Italian automaker Pagani has thrilled the automotive community with its exclusive hypercars and is renowned for combining technology with unprecedented design and performance. The collaboration between Asetek and Pagani is a licensing, marketing, and product deal for a number of Asetek’s upcoming products for a premium sim racing experience.

Soon the most passionate sim racers and car enthusiasts will be able to virtually experience the rush of driving a Pagani through a portfolio of products.

André Eriksen

“The attention to detail, the designs inspired by Horacio Pagani’s commitment to art and science working hand in hand combined with groundbreaking performance – basically everything Pagani stands for, are personal values of mine” – says André Eriksen.

“When Asetek approached us to design and develop Pagani SimRacing products jointly, we felt it was an ideal match given Asetek’s focus on innovation, design, and extensive capabilities with software, hardware, and mechanics” – says Horacio Pagani, Founder & Chief Designer of Pagani Automobili S.p.A.

Asetek will custom-design limited editions of Pagani-licensed sim racing products. They will be based on actual Pagani technology used in the Atelier’s latest release, the Pagani Huayra R, for an as-near-as-it-gets to the real Pagani racing experience. In turn, Pagani Automobili will market and sell the Pagani-branded SimRacing products through its channels.

The first Pagani-Asetek sim racing products will be released in 2022.

Asetek and Kevin Magnussen

At the beginning of May, Asetek announced a collaboration with Kevin Magnussen, the Danish race driver for Haas F1 Team. As part of the agreement, Magnussen will be an official brand ambassador for Asetek SimSports.

The partnership between the two parties goes way beyond just branding. The clear goal of Asetek is to bring true racing immersion to sim racers around the globe. Asetek aims for maximum reliability, and they want to help sim racers perform even better.

Kevin Magnussen

“There is a lot of sim equipment that claims to emulate an F1 car, but it misses the mark because it was designed by people who do not have F1 racing experience” – said Kevin Magnussen.

“André and I share a passion for racing and by teaming up with Asetek, I can help bring the thrill and authentic feel of F1 to sim racers everywhere.”

Son of four-time LeMans GT class winner and former Formula One driver, Jan Magnussen, Kevin Magnussen has a celebrated racing resume including with McLaren, Renault, and Haas F1 Teams. In addition to his vast amount of time on the track, Magnussen helped develop the McLaren simulator and has tested for Porsche.

“In the past, I did not find home simulators to bring a whole lot of value, simply because they were not realistic. I tested Asetek’s equipment, and I was impressed. I am enthusiastic about assisting them in bringing forward products that feel as close to a real F1 car as possible, and I appreciate they have given me this opportunity” – said Magnussen.

“Our partnership with Kevin is much more than a branding agreement, where we put his signature on our products” – said André Sloth Eriksen.

“What is truly exciting is that we will develop products together with the sole purpose of replicating the true feeling of an F1 car. As an example, Kevin will spend a significant amount of time in our lab working closely with our engineers on the development of the best possible firmware for our wheelbases.”

Interesting facts:

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