McLaren Racing and Stratasys have announced a new four-year partnership under which Stratasys will supply McLaren Racing with a suite of 3D printing and additive manufacturing solutions, as the Official Supplier of 3D Printing Solutions to the McLaren-Honda Formula 1 team.
Stratasys will work closely with the grand prix outfit as it ramps up its rapid manufacturing capacity at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, UK.
Under the agreement, Stratasys will supply McLaren Racing with its latest FDM and PolyJet based 3D printing solutions and cutting-edge materials for visual and functional prototyping, production tooling including composite tooling, and customised production parts – enabling their accelerated delivery while increasing performance and productivity in design and manufacturing operations.
“We’re delighted to be working with such a restless, visionary and ambitious partner,” said Ilan Levin, Stratasys CEO. “McLaren Racing will be leveraging our nearly 30 years of 3D printing and additive manufacturing experience to stay at the forefront of motorsport technological development. Stratasys will also gain invaluable feedback and insights from working with ultra-high performance automotive applications, which we can then apply to our mainstream automotive and aerospace customers. Equally, McLaren Racing will benefit from the superior productivity, engineering precision and wide gamut of materials that come with our 3D printing solutions.”
“The ability to rapidly model, build and evaluate new components is an invaluable asset for any fast-moving and dynamic racing organisation,” added Eric Boullier, racing director of McLaren Racing. “But our new partnership with Stratasys will not only increase our output in that area, but also allow us to dynamically explore and utilise the cutting-edge of Stratasys’ new 3D printing innovations and solutions. It has become clear that motorsport’s reliance on rapid prototyping and additive manufacturing, and the ability to radically cut time to market, is increasing, and we look to being well served by our new alliance with Stratasys.”
