In an industry, where it’s easy to focus on the drivers and their racing performance, we know as a tech publication, that race and engineering go hand in hand. Each performance in motorsports is often the result of a solid work and good communication with the engineering team.
From design to innovation, there is a big world filled with several technical capabilities that continuously need to be enhanced and challenged in order to help racing teams perform at their best. At the heart of these technical capabilities, there is obviously Additive Manufacturing.
Interestingly, the first applications that show the potential of AM for the sports industry in general popped up in 2010 and there were motor sports applications (2021 May/June Issue of 3D ADEPT Mag – pp 44-50).
Today, achieving top racing performance requires to take a number of considerations to take into account, that are vital to make racing cars faster, lighter and more reliable.
The next Additive Talks session ambitions to address these considerations. Set to take place on Wednesday 09thMarch, 2022 from 09.30 am to 10.30 am Cambridge, Massachusetts Time (03.30 pm to 04.30 pm CET), the panel will discuss the use of AM at the intersection of Motorsports and Automotive production components. It will explore the various paths in additive manufacturing car manufacturers take to improve car production/performance.
Around this virtual table, we will find:
Erika Berg, Managing Director of Business Development at Carbon, Inc. After joining the startup in 2017, she built and grew a new organization called Application Development, which focuses on partnering with customers who have a vision for innovation and a desire to incorporate Carbon’s Digital Light Synthesis (DLS) technology into their products at scale. From 2018 to 2020, the Application Development team launched over 30 new SKUs of products with ground-breaking customers like Riddell, Specialized, Fizik, and CCM. Erika holds an MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.
Berg work for Carbon, a 3D printing technology company helping businesses to develop better products and bring them to market in less time. The Carbon DLS™ process combines versatile printers, advanced software, and best-in-class materials to deliver functional parts with end-use performance and aesthetics, helping engineers and designers to create products that outperform expectations. From prototyping and low-volume production to production-at-scale, global organizations use the Carbon process to create a wide range of functional end-use parts and print them reliably wherever and whenever they need them through Carbon’s production network partners.
Andrew Cunningham is a product development engineer specializing in motorsports applications within General Motors’ Additive Design and Manufacturing group. He works to identify, conceptualize, and realize metal and polymer additive manufacturing projects across the OEM’s various racing activities including Corvette Racing, IndyCar, and NASCAR. Andrew’s prior work experience as a motorsport aerodynamicist, wind tunnel scale model engineer, and Formula SAE leader all contribute to his performance-oriented mindset, which is critical to pushing additive to its limits in order to bring advanced learnings back to GM’s mainstream additive activities. Andrew has a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo; and is currently pursuing a Master of Engineering in Advanced Manufacturing and Design at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Cunningham works for General Motors, a global company that envisions a future of zero crashes, zero emissions, and zero congestion. To enable this vision, the enterprise is taking steps to create a foundation of electric and autonomous vehicles and connected product offerings which are available at scale. General Motors, its subsidiaries and its joint venture entities sell vehicles under the Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, Cadillac, Baojun and Wuling brands.
Do you want to discover how Additive Manufacturing transforms the motorsports industry?