The phrase “Race on Sunday, sell on Monday” suggests a successful race could lead to sales on the Monday after the event. This is particularly relevant in the automotive industry. However, it does take longer than a day for technology to trickle down from motorsport to road cars.
The advancement of materials technology in road cars is exemplified by carbon fibre. In the 90s, carbon fibre, then used only in F1 and Aerospace, was extremely expensive and difficult to obtain. When the McLaren F1 road car was released, it was the first production car to feature a carbon fibre chassis. This meant that the cost of the car was uplevelling hundreds of thousands of dollars for a carbon fibre monocoque. In the 2020s, carbon fibre is being used by road cars like the mass-market electric vehicle, BMW i3. The racing industry’s continual use of new materials for technology explains the widespread use of carbon fibre.
Aluminium alloys also traveled a similar trajectory. Racing teams used aluminium suspension components and body panels decades before road car manufacturers adopted them. Audi’s usage of aluminium in their motorsport programmes during the 1980s and 90s directly informed their decision to build aluminium-bodied road cars. The first-generation Audi A8 was launched in 1994 and was one of the first luxury cars to feature an all-aluminium body. That wouldn’t have been possible without the confidence gained from motorsport. Now, aluminium bonnets, doors, and suspension parts are used in cars ranging from luxurious SUVs to economical family hatchbacks.
Another example is ceramic brake technology. Racing teams used the first carbon-ceramic brakes in the 1980s for components that could withstand searing temperatures without fading. After millions of racing kilometres, the technology was refined, and Porsche fitted ceramic brakes as an option on the 911 Turbo in the late 1990s. Now, you can get ceramic brakes on everything from a Volkswagen Golf R to a Range Rover Sport. They’re still expensive, but thanks to racing, all the problems have been solved and they are now available, reliable, and proven.
The story around advanced steel alloys is similar. Throughout history, racing has always been at the forefront of what steel can do. The ultra-high-strength steel alloys used in racing for roll cages and structural components have been adapted to the road car safety cell. Cars today are made from a variety of steels with the strongest in the most critical areas. The racing world came up with the concept of using the right grade of steel in the right place for the right job, and this concept is now used in the construction of all modern cars.
The same story applies to titanium, although this journey is a little bit slower. Titanium is more expensive to produce and to machine. Road cars now have titanium exhaust systems and some companies use titanium suspension springs, which is a lot more common today than twenty years ago. As engineering expertise improves, and as costs to manufacture the materials come down, more and more applications for titanium systems are becoming commonplace.
Some welding and joining methods have the roots in racing. For example, friction stir welding, which is better than traditional welding for making joins in aluminium, was used in racing before it was used in the production of road cars. Also in racing, where riveting was too heavy and welding was not feasible, the bonding of panels through adhesives was used. Now it is commonplace in aluminium and mixed material cars.
What is interesting with this kind of technology transfer is that it is not about racing for the sake of racing. It proves that a technique or material can work, and more importantly, it exposes the weaknesses. By the time a material or technique derived from racing gets to road cars, it has gone through testing in the worst possible conditions and that is valuable, real-world data.
An economic angle can also be made here. Racing teams invest heavily in the development of the materials and the use techniques. Then road car manufacturers benefit from that investment without making that research and development investment. The racing team gets to improve performance and the road car manufacturers get to use proven technology. It is a win-win relationship.
Not everything trickles down, though. Some road materials just aren’t practical. For example, carbon-carbon brakes only work properly at high operating temps, which makes them unsuitable for road cars that need to stop effectively from the first press of the pedal. It also not practical to transfer the knowledge gained from using equivalent materials.
The racing industry set the standard for how the road car industry approaches mixed material construction of aluminium, steel, carbon fibre, and plastics. Racing also deals with the challenges of joining vastly different materials.
When you’re sitting in a modern car with your aluminium panels, ceramic brakes, and high-strength steel safety cell you are the benefiting from decades of racing development. While the materials may have only been proven on the racetrack, you get to use them on the road.