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John Barnard is famed for having designed the first composite chassis, the McLaren MP4/1. However, he admits that the idea came from having seen engine cowlings manufactured this way at British Aerospace. In 2002, his company B3 Technologies took this technology, now honed in Grand Prix racing, back into the aerospace industry and, in particular, the design and manufacture of composite parts for satellites.
Composites are an obvious example of the way in which the motorsport and aerospace sectors can learn from each other. While their use may have started in the aircraft industry, the rapid turnaround required in racing has meant that it now leads the way in composite development.
Another example where the crossover is already very evident is steel. If you had tried to speak to the motorsport contact at any of the leading steels suppliers during the week of Le Mans you would probably have been unlucky. The chances are that they would have been at the Paris Air Show. So similar are the steels requirement of both motorsport and aerospace that the same people will handle them. Corus Engineering's S132, a 3% CrMo nitriding steel is used for the turbine shafts of a jet engine and is therefore eminently suitable for the shafts of a racecar gearbox or the crankshafts of a race engine. And that is just one example of many.
The tough re-melted steels used for aerospace applications have to be made to very tight tolerances in terms of chemical super cleanliness and dimensions. Cleanliness is a given as the inclusion of a foreign body in, say, a crankshaft can easily lead to failure and a lost race. However, this close association with aerospace can have its downside. Corus Engineering Steels sales manager Chris Dale has pointed to the fact that there is little re-melt capacity worldwide thanks in particular to the demands of Boeing and Airbus - and especially the new A380. Lead times for the aerospace manufacturers are said to be as much as a year.
The Airbus A380 comes into the story again through its tyres. Another example of the synergy between aerospace and motorsport is the fact that considerable weight savings have been made on Michelin's NZG (Near Zero Growth) tyres thanks to the use of lightweight materials also used in the French manufacturer's Formula One rubbers. Its AIR X NZG tyres are being supplied to the A380 and the Dassault-Aviation Falcon 7X.
The composite, steels and tyre companies were not the only motorsport suppliers at Paris. As part of its Motorsport2Aerospace initiative funded by Motorsport Development UK, the Motorsport Industry Association took a mission of eight companies comprising DPS Composites, ISPC Impact Finishers, Pi Research, Eltro (GB), Ricardo, MRS2000, Retrac Composites and Lola Cars International.
Some of these already enjoy both motorsport and aerospace business. For example, Eltro has probably about half of its work coming from the former and one third from the latter with Rolls-Royce among its customers. A number of aviation firms already operate its furnaces. Shot peening specialist, ISPC Impact Finishers supplies to sub-contractors for F1, at the same time as being a tier one supplier to Boeing and Airbus.
This was the second MIA M2A air show, the association having taken a pavilion at last year's Farnborough event. That was the first time that a non-aerospace industry had had such a presence at Farnborough and its organiser, the Society of British Aerospace Companies seemed enthusiastic in embracing the motorsport visitors. “There was no question in their mind that we should have carried out this initiative a long time ago,” said MIA chief executive Chris Aylett.
It was noteworthy that technical representatives from many of the Formula One teams, including Ferrari, were present at that event, irrespective of the MIA pavilion. Indeed, Retrac Composites reported enquiries from four or five of these on its stand and was already quoting for a job for one of them the week after the show. Eltro's works manager Richard Jenkins also commented on the number of motor sport companies present as visitors.
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