When French race car driver Alex Premat was pulled from his car after suffering from heat exhaustion during a race, the Nissan Motorsports’ Australian V8 Supercar team needed to find a better driver cooling system before their next race. So they turned to 3D printing company Evok3D who helped them quickly rapid prototype their new design with 3D printing tech.
It was an oppressively hot day on the track during the Sydney Telstra 500 in Australia on that Saturday afternoon in 2012. So hot that Premat’s cool suit stopped functioning, and with a track temperature at just under 100 degrees fahrenheit (37 Celsius) it’s no wonder that he overheated so fast. He was quickly pulled from his car and rushed to the hospital where he was covered in ice and carefully rehydrated.
Heat exhaustion is nothing to mess around with, if it goes untreated it can lead to heat stroke and potentially cause damage to your brain and other internal organs. Keeping drivers cool is a huge concern for race car designers, and when their current system was insufficient to protect a driver, the Nissan Motorsports team had to move quickly.
While they were attempting to design their new driver cooling system they were presented with yet another problem. They discovered a serious issue with rear vehicle aerodynamics that was a major hindrance to the cars performance. That also needed to be solved before the next race, so they turned to rapid prototyping to quickly produce their new designs and eventually used the 3D printing service to actually create the direct use parts as well.
3D Systems reseller and all in one 3D printing service provider Evok3D helped produce the new parts in a matter of weeks, not months. That allowed the new driver cooling system and the spoiler fix to be completed just in time for their next race.
Here is a great video from SpeedCafe’s Talking Tech YouTube channel showing off the Evok3D 3D printing facilities in the Nissan Motorsport showroom:
If you’re curious about how the Nissan Motorsport designers and the 3D printing technicians from Evok3D created the new parts so quickly they are holding a live webinar to explain the process this week. The webinar is taking place on October 15, 2014, at 5:00 pm EST. On hand will be Perry Kapper who is Nissan Motorsports Chief Designer and Joe Carmody the Managing Director of Evok3D. You can find out more about the webinar and register to participate here.
