NASCAR Announces Official 3D Printing Partnership

Formula 1 has long been a fervent adopter of additive manufacturing, but did you know that its American cousin, NASCAR, has also been adopting the technology? A fact that has only been cemented with a new press release from the car racing giant announcing that NASCAR has chosen Stratasys as its official 3D printing partner for the design of parts and tools. Stratasys solutions will also be used in NASCAR’s new state-of-the-art 3D printing lab set to open at the NASCAR Research & Development Center in Concord, North Carolina.

Additive manufacturing is increasingly being adopted in the automotive sector, especially in motor racing, for its benefits in lightweighting and shortening delays in parts. Indeed, NASCAR itself has been using 3D printing for quite some time, announcing for example in 2022 that it would be using Stratasys’ technologies to put 3D printed production parts in all NASCAR Next Gen racecars. This official partnership just shows how serious the auto racing sanctioning and operating company is about additive manufacturing.

A NASCAR engineer attaches a 3D printed duct (photo credits: Business Wire)

NASCAR Is Increasing 3D Printing Use

As mentioned, this is not exactly new, in that NASCAR has had a relationship with Stratasys and other 3D printing technologies for a few years now. What is notable is that not only will this cement Stratasys’ role as a critical technology provider for NASCAR but it also seems that it will help NASCAR to scale up its additive manufacturing capabilities. Namely, Stratasys will be increasing the FDM capabilities already present within the NASCAR R&D center, which already boasts F370, 450mc, F900 and NEO800 3D printers, enabling larger-scale part production. The NEO800 3D printer will also expand the offerings of the R&D center from FDM to also integrate stereolithography.