Joe Gibbs Racing sets the pace in additive manufacturing

After years of prototyping and testing, Joe Gibbs Racing started using 3D-printed parts in race day cars four years ago. Kyle Busch went on to win the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway in 2015 with a 3D-printed polycarbonate gauge insert mounted on the dashboard of his No. 18 Toyota stock car. (Photo courtesy of Joe Gibbs Racing)

Technology has always moved race car development forward – from the most basic of mechanics like semiautomatic gears, all-wheel drive, and active suspension all the way to advanced digital transformation with integrated computer software and data analytics. Somewhere in between, though, it was additive manufacturing (AM) that positioned itself as one of the biggest disrupters in motorsports.

These days the use of AM as a competitive advantage for race day preparation is standard practice. But it was Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) that set the pace for making 3D printing integral to NASCAR. Fifteen years ago, the renowned racing team, founded in 1992 by former NFL coach Joe Gibbs, became the first in the sport to utilize AM’s untapped potential.

“It's really sped up the whole development process,” said Technical Sponsorship Director Mark Bringle, who’s been with JGR for almost 25 years. “With the flexibility of being able to print parts that go directly to the car on just a moment's notice, we can make a change and have a part in there the next day.”

That development, modification, communication, testing, and installation process has always been a grind for professional stock car teams like JGR. During any given circuit season, the window for turning around a car between races can be tight – usually three days or less when a car returns on a Monday and needs to be hauled off for transportation on a Thursday.

And when JGR teamed up with Eden Prairie, Minn.-based AM company Stratasys to kick-start its 3D printing capabilities, the rest of the NASCAR community quickly jumped on the AM bandwagon.

“From that, by dealing with Stratasys, a lot of the other teams followed suit right after, purchasing equipment and getting that same principle inside their operations to give them the same abilities,” Bringle said.

And through that partnership with JGR, Stratasys has taken ownership as the premier AM provider in auto racing. Teams across the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, Xfinity Series, Formula One, IndyCar Series, and ARCA Racing Series have turned to Stratasys to maximize 3D printing and production systems.

“This is our longest-term relationship we’ve had in auto racing,” Stratasys Senior Vice President of Strategic Growth Pat Carey said of the 15-year partnership with JGR. “And what it did was it made other racing teams look at us. To be honest, we haven’t gone out and pursued other race teams. A lot of them pursued us.”

Over the last half decade Stratasys’ transition into the automotive space came at a time when the 30-year-old AM company was transforming its business model from one that was primarily manufacturing 3D printers to one that became more customer-oriented as go-to experts in the industry.

“Customers were saying that they wanted to talk directly to Stratasys, not just the local reseller,” Carey added. “People wanted to know more [about AM], know what’s on the horizon, and understand new materials that are developing. It all kind of happened naturally.”

Joe Gibbs Racing has five Stratasys 3D printers (back far left) that run nearly 24/7 in its 96,000-square-foot production, R&D, fabrication, and testing facility in Huntersville, N.C. (Photo by Gareth Sleger)

And that’s thanks in big part to JGR’s significant curiosity in AM. At first JGR started out with just one Stratasys 3D printer for some simple one-off prototyping to alleviate scheduling in the CNC department.

“Being able to grow these parts instead of using the traditional manufacturing way with CNCs has really helped create better carbon fiber pieces,” Bringle said.

But as the technology improved and JGR became more reliant on AM, its arsenal of Stratasys 3D printers with fused deposition modeling (FDM) and PolyJet technologies has grown to five machines that run nearly 24/7 in its 96,000-square-foot production, R&D, fabrication, and testing facility in Huntersville, N.C. PolyJet is mainly used for wind tunnel testing and modeling.

JGR’s 10-person AM department currently uses one Connex3 Objet500 machine, which offers the ability for JGR to load multiple materials at one time while allowing engineers to print parts that require a range of mechanical, optical, or thermal properties; two Fortus 450mc machines, one that mainly runs acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and another that runs an upgraded ABS material with a carbon fiber weave; and two Fortus 250mc printers for producing smaller ABS pieces.

“The popularity of the technology grew, so we started a carbon fiber shop and started building solid molds for the carbon shop,” Bringle said of JGR’s AM operation, which focuses on three disciplines: prototyping, carbon fiber pieces and layup tools, and carbon fiber parts going directly into the car.

JGR currently operates nine Toyota race cars while fielding several drivers for three circuits: four drivers for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr., and Erik Jones), three NASCAR Xfinity Series drivers (Jeffrey Earnhardt, Brandon Jones, and Christopher Bell), and one ARCA Racing Series driver (Riley Herbst).

“We manufacture about 90 percent of everything that goes into our cars,” said Bringle. “So, to be able to stay competitive, you've got to be able to control all that type of manufacturing internally. At the end of the day, the quicker we can get those parts in the car, the more competitive you are.”

After years of prototyping and testing, JGR finally started using 3D-printed parts in race day cars four years ago. And using Busch’s No. 18 car as the guinea pig, the organization saw an immediate payoff. With a 3D-printed polycarbonate gauge insert mounted on the dashboard, Busch went on to win the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway in 2015.

Because of strict NASCAR regulations that prevent a team’s pit crew from monitoring a car’s mechanical data with telemetry, the driver is responsible for tracking gauges during a race. But since each track presents its own unique challenges, JGR engineers recognized an opportunity with AM.

So, Design Engineer Brian Levy and other JGR engineers created an integrated dashboard with room for the 3D-printed polycarbonate insert that can be easily modified, making it possible to slot in the appropriate digital gauge instrument needed for each specific race.

JGR’s 10-person AM department currently uses five Stratasys 3D printers, including a Connex3 Objet500 machine (left), which offers the ability to load multiple materials at one time while allowing engineers to print parts that require a range of mechanical, optical or thermal properties, and a Fortus 450mc machines that runs FDM-based acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS). (Photo courtesy of Joe Gibbs Racing)

In the case for Sonoma Raceway, the meandering road course called for a gauge that tracks transmission temperature and room on the dash for a control switch to trigger the front brakes’ cooling fans.

According to a Stratasys case study, the polycarbonate dashboard inserts take three days to print at an estimated $50. If the part would have been manufactured with CNC machining, it would have cost $1,000 to produce over a three-week period.

"We started out walking or crawling,” Bringle said. “And then we eventually figured out what to do with [AM]. And if you know your product – and we're going to obviously know our race cars better than anybody – you’re going to know how to apply specific 3D technology internally to help identify what you need for each team. All of that is invaluable. You can't really put a value on the impact it's made.”