Prodrive 3D Prints Car Parts for Dakar Rally 2021

Two months ago, the Amaury Sport Organisation once again held its Dakar Rally as it has every year since 1978, this time in the desert in Saudi Arabia. With less than seven cars in ten making it across the finishing line, the Dakar Rally is known to be among the most arduous rally races in the world. This year, Prodrive, a leading British motorsports and advanced engineering group, entered the race alongside Bahrain Raid Xtreme (BRX). They completed their team including nine-time World Rally champion Sebastien Loeb and twenty-five-time rally legend Nani Roma, with MakerBot’s trusty Method X 3D printer.

Paul Doe, chief engineer at Prodrive, explained, “We carried this machine with us in the truck and printed remotely in the middle of nowhere; literally where you can’t see traces of civilization, yet here we are using this kind of machine with that industrial 3D printing technology. We took advantage of the speed of 3D printing parts in the middle of our test program”.

Having this machine by their side, meant that the team were able to prototype and print parts at speed, as needed, and experiment with different applications. This in turn led to more cost-efficient and streamlined production processes, allowing Prodrive to save even more time. Doe commented, “There is a massive list of benefits from using the MakerBot METHOD X compared to a normal production, such as speed and responsiveness. When it came to designing parts on the car, the first thought often starts with printing a part off the 3D printer to see how it would turn out. The ability to try the part first before committing to the final product allows us to make changes easily and quickly. This rapid iteration also allows us to stay pretty close to our production timeline, while also saving us a ton of money”.