TEXTILES.ORG
Fibre and fabric production technologies—especially in the area of composite reinforcements—have played an as-yet largely unheralded role in the development of the U.K.’s Formula One industry, but the British Textile Machinery Association (BTMA) aims to change that.
“With the exception of the engine, virtually every part of a Formula One racing car now starts from a textile, including the bodywork, the tires and many of the latest fuel systems,” says Richard Kirkbright, project manager at Leeds-based Roaches International. “This has influenced developments in the broader automotive sector, in addition to the aerospace industry.”
While best known as the developer of textile testing systems, Roaches has over the years also supplied advanced autoclaves to the U.K.’s composites industry, including a recent delivery to Northampton-based Memento Exclusives, a specialist in the production of show cars working directly with F1 and its leading teams.
Each major F1 team sponsor is supplied with one or two show cars for use at exhibitions and a wide range of other promotional activities arranged around the racing event calendar. These cars have no engine and their bodies may be made of fewer carbon fiber plies, but they are otherwise identical to the latest cars being raced by the F1 teams. Memento Exclusives has its own in-house carbon fiber parts manufacturing facility and the integration of the Roaches autoclave has significantly expanded its capabilities in show car production.
Woking, U.K.-headquartered McLaren was the very first F1 team to introduce a car chassis manufactured entirely from carbon fiber composites in 1981, setting the ball rolling for the creation of a completely new and global supply chain. McLaren has this year unveiled a world-first in supercar engineering – aerospace-derived Automated Rapid Tape (ART) carbon fiber, developed at the dedicated McLaren Composites Technology Centre (MCTC) facility in Sheffield.
This is being employed to create the active front wings of the W1 hypercar which has a starting price of $2.1 million. A rear floor component was also developed for McLaren as part of the recently-completed £39.6 million ASCEND programme involving a range of UK partners, including BTMA member Cygnet Texkimp.
A wide range of handling and converting machines are supplied to the composites industry by Cygnet Texkimp, including bespoke creels, prepreg, coating, slitting and filament winding machines. Its technologies are employed in the construction of composite components for aerospace and automotive, as well as in the production of tyre cord and more recently in the advanced construction of hydrogen storage vessels which are largely viewed as the future of F1 propulsion, along with advanced batteries for electric vehicles.
“In addition to our powerful base of textile testing and control companies, many other BTMA members are working on further F1 and advanced composite projects,” says Jason Kent. “We are also forging strong links with the U.K.’s key research hubs, such as Sheffield University’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre, the Northwest Composites Centre in Manchester, the National Centre for Motorsport Engineering in Bolton and the National Composites Centre in Bristol.”