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CRP Technology is pleased to be invited to present an interesting Case Study about applications of RM in the motorbike racing sector relating to its own WINDFORM composite materials. The conference will be held at Holywell Park, which is part of Loughborough University (Loughborough - UK) on Wednesday 11 and Thursday 12 July 2007.
Ing. Gabriele Tredozi, Special Projects Senior Technical Director of CRP Racing will explain how Ilmor and CRP Technology are implementing RM in 4-stroke MotoGP engine development. Furthermore CRP and Amber Composites Ltd will exhibit some interesting components. Following the success of the 2006 1st International conference on Rapid Manufacturing (RM), the 2007 conference will feature a state-of-the-art mixture of world-leading industrial applications. Amber Composites Ltd is a leading supplier and manufacturer to the composites, tooling and adhesives market and since mid 2006 is the official distributor of WINDFORM to the UK market providing both materials and the technical support required to produce parts for RP & RM applications. CRP Racing is a new company born from CRP Technology experience in motorsport engineering. The title of the paper will be "Turning point in the creation of racing engines: structural parts made by laser sintering". Besides the numerous non-structural parts made by selective laser sintering that can be found in the Ilmor engine, the 2007 innovation project is a real turning point in the creation of racing engines! If this exceptional R&D should reveal itself to be winning even under extended running conditions, the future of the engine and frame production will have the green light towards really new and interesting delivery times, costs and performances. The new challenge is the optimisation of the CAMSHAFT COVER for the newest Ilmor engine, that will race in the 2007 MotoGP. The CAMSHAFT COVER is the structural part that supports the bearing of the camshaft (camshafts seats, the camshaft usually runs at more or less 19000 rpm), directly applied on the 4 stroke 800cc engine head. Inside there is also the lubricant oil for the timing system. Average working temperature: 130-140 deg C.
The improvements this project will achieve are as follows: CRP and Ilmor have known each other for many years, being both protagonists in F1 world, as hi-tech partners and suppliers. The Ilmor company was founded by Mario Illien, Paul Morgan and Roger Penske in 1984. It quickly became successful in Indy racing and progressed to competing in Formula One in the early nineties, winning the world championship with McLaren in '98 and '99. After great successes in many diverse racing series, in late 2002, Mercedes-Benz elected to begin a phased buyout of Ilmor. This began to stifle opportunities for Special Projects and so by the end of June 2005 a new Ilmor was born and now possesses its own independent facilities employing 60 staff in total. The main business is the development and production of racing engines, from conception through to trackside. Having been a primary active partner to the main Racecar Constructors for more than 30 years and ISO 9001:2000 certified, CRP Technology offers a unique opportunity to the Motor Sport market: a support throughout the entire project, including the manufacturing process. The R&D Department has also developed WINDFORM materials for Laser Sintering technology: WINDFORM XT, carbon fibre filled, allows the creation of high-end functional prototypes and production parts, the real challenge for the other RP materials, and so far never achieved. After some cooperation in F1, CRP has been chosen by Ilmor for some key parts of the last MotoGP project: a 4 stroke 800cc motorbike engine. Two Ilmor powered bikes should attend the 2007 MotoGP season, but after the first 2 races Mario Illien decided to take a temporary break from racing in MotoGP due to funding problems. McWILLIAMS bike's top speed during Qatar qualifying practice was 313.0 kmh, 4th speed after Ducati, one Honda and one Suzuki, leaving behind all Yamaha, all Kawasaki, one Suzuki and lots of Honda bikes. Within less than 2 years Ilmor developed a 800cc engine running at that speed: let's hope to see this brilliant engine's constructor back to the track soon!
CRP Technology
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