The American professional racing organization Team Penske, which competes in 38 national championships, has purchased a Stratasys Neo800 3D printer to produce scale model components for aerodynamics testing.
The team will benefit immensely from having its first stereolithography-based 3D printer. According to production manager Matt Gimbel, the Neo printer’s open materials model and the high quality of the surface finish provided will be advantageous. When it comes to material selection, the organization now has much more flexibility as it can source material from any vendor. In addition, the large build volume of the Neo800 3D printer (800 x 800 x 600mm) enables the printing of larger parts and means that technicians will spend less time hand sanding, sectioning and joining parts together for wind tunnel testing.
“As additive manufacturing’s applications continue evolving in racing, Stratasys continues to help us rapidly improve race performance ahead of the competition so we can turn ideas into parts and get them onto the racetrack faster than ever before and with greater reliability than ever before. We can now make parts in ways not possible through traditional manufacturing,” added Gimbel.
Stratasys has previously provided Team Penske with a variety of FDM and PolyJet 3D printers for prototyping, tooling, fixturing and end-use parts in cars and pit equipment.
Pat Carey, senior vice president of commercial development at Stratasys, commented, “With over 500 wins, Team Penske’s commitment to excellence is unrivaled in the motorsports industry. Achieving new heights of performance means constantly asking how things can be done better. As one of their chief partners in additive manufacturing solutions, we are committed to providing more winning solutions tailored for the racing industry than anyone else in the industry, so Team Penske can capture more checkered flags than any other racing organization in the world.”