About: Vannik Developments

Vannik Developments is Neels van Niekerk.

(C G J van Niekerk, MEng Mech)

The Name "Vannik".

During the late 70's I was helping a few novice riders on their modified 50cc racing motorbikes. They wanted to thank me for the help and made up the name "Vannik" from my surname and the name "Vannik Racing" was born.

A number of people started calling me Vannik so when I started doing consulting work and needed a name I used "Vannik Developments".

The Software.

EngMod2T - Engine Model for 2 Stroke Engines

EngMod4T - Engine Model for 4 Stroke Engines

Two years before finishing school I started racing 50cc motorbikes and started tuning 2 stroke engines. My first attempt at pipe design was a miserable failure. During my final year at school (1975) I got hold of a copy of Gordon Jennings' "Two-stroke Tuners Handbook" and realized that there was science behind the processes.

During the period at Pretoria University I came into contact with SAE papers and the work of Professor Gordon P Blair and the research group at The Queens University of Belfast. In 1985 I wrote my first gasdynamic pipe simulator. At this stage I was also preparing the racing two-stroke Yamaha TZ250's for the local importer and really needed a better understanding of the workings of the pipes.

During the next 5 years the simulator developed into a multi cylinder version but still used the homentropic method of characteristics to solve the gasdynamic equations. Then when Prof Blair published the GPB-method in 1991 the software was converted to this method which is non-homentropic. The next major update was in the middle to late 90's when it was converted from command window (DOS) based to Windows based. Shortly there after a 4 stroke version was spun off from the 2 stroke version.

At this time I needed some more detailed flow information about the flow from a reverse cone into the tailpipe of an expansion box type exhaust and to gain access to the required instrumentation and flow equipment I enrolled for a Masters Degree at Pretoria University which I completed in 2001.

Since then the software has been under continual development and refinement.

"I am an engineer that does a bit of programming, not a programmer that does a bit of engineering."