Customer Profile
Champion Motorsport has a strong presence in auto racing, with wins including the 24 Hours of Le Mans and five consecutive American Le Mans Series LMP1 championships. Initially a private team, they later became a factory team under Audi Sport North America. Over the past decade, the company has leveraged racing technology to create high-performance products for Porsche vehicles.
Challenge
According to Chris Lyew, producing composite components like the turbo inlet duct is challenging. The part requires a seamless internal surface, an aesthetically pleasing exterior, and exceptional strength to last the vehicle’s lifespan.
Traditional tooling makes it nearly impossible to achieve smooth finishes on both interior and exterior surfaces of tubular composites. Sand cores or two-piece molds have limitations, leading to trapped cores, weaker bonded parts, or poor surface finishes. Champion experimented with several methods but struggled to achieve a robust, seam-free duct.
Solution
One product is the carbon fiber turbo inlet duct for the Porsche 997 Turbo. By using carbon fiber, Champion expanded the interior dimensions while maintaining the factory outer diameter, improving airflow and engine performance. The redesigned duct is also lighter than the original part.
Champion Motorsport traditionally used their Fortus® 3D Production System for prototypes. They later discovered it could produce FDM soluble cores — the perfect solution for creating high-performance turbo inlet ducts and other Porsche engine components.
“Soluble cores allow me to design and make parts that I previously wouldn’t have considered because of the difficulty involved in creating them.” — Chris Lyew, Lead Mechanical Engineer, Champion Motorsport
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