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Students 3D-print race car


A 3D printing process was used for the entire car body, including the nozzles and diffuser that channel air through the engine.

The Formula Group T team of university students from Leuven, Belgium, used “mammoth stereolithography,” to print the car.

This supersizes the process of making objects by successively "printing" thin layers of the ultraviolet-curable polymer resin, building them up into three-dimensional shapes that can be as large as 2.1m in length, with 68cm and 80cm cross measurements.

The body includes a 3D-printed nozzle and diffuser designed to channel air through the engine for cooling, while panels were given a special toothed surface – inspired by pro swimming suits – that helps reduce drag

The result, christened the Areion, has had a shakedown at the Hockenheim race circuit will be entered in the Formula Student Challenge, a prominent event on the European university engineering calendar.

The Areion is powered by an 85kW electric motor fed by a 50-volt pack of lithium-ion batteries. Formula Group T says the car weighs just 280kg and will get to 100km/h in 3.2 seconds, reaching a top speed of 142km/h.

While this, and similar 3D printing projects are very much experimental at this stage, there’s no doubt carmakers will be looking at the technology closely to see if there is potential to bring it into their manufacturing process.