Rapid-prototyped air inlet component used for Le Mans engine

CRP Technology's Rapid Prototyping Department has supplied a section of the air intake to Zytek for its LMP1 and LMP2 Le Mans race car engines. According to Ian Lovett, the engineering manager for Zytek Engine Technology at Zytek Engineering Ltd, the part has a "significant impact on the performance of the engine."

Aside from tight time constraints, the project team had to produce an aerodynamic part that had minimal mass and could cope with vibration and thermal loads. By using CRP's rapid prototyping technologies, the part could be created without the need for expensive tooling and patterns. Moreover, the part's complex shape would have been extremely difficult to form using conventional carbon fibre and epoxy laminated moulding over an aluminium mould.

CRP was able to take a CAD model of the part and create a finished component that could be installed on the engine in just two days. Even in the world of top-level motorsport, cost is a consideration; however, the CRP part was cost-effective for Zytek.

Ian Lovett concludes: "We have used both the Windform GF and XT parts in our engines, mainly on the air intake duct inside the engine airbox. The Windform XT parts from last year raced at Le Mans and are still in use on both Zytek LMP2 cars racing in the 2008 Le Mans series and have covered 15,000 kilometres in racing and testing. The ability to go straight from CAD model to working part delivered to our factory in less than two days is very useful to our development department.

"The design of the part is based on many months of CFD and development work and gives us a significant increase in engine performanc".

Of the three Zytek ZG348-engined cars competing at the 2008 Le Mans race, the best result was fifth place in the LMP2 class for the Barazi-Epsilon Zytek-Zytek 07S, driven by Juan Barazi, Michael Vergers and Stuart Moseley, which completed 304 laps.