Manufacturing Magazine June 2018 | Page 35

agrees that CNC has revolutionised motorsport and has literally made design dreams come true . The main benefit is the ability to customise even the smallest parts to create a lighter , more efficient vehicle which is ultimately better to race with .
“ Everything in motorsport comes down to power ratios in the cars , so anything you can make out of aluminium or titanium on a CNC machine will be preferable to a heavier metal ,” Dodd says . “ My customers will bring me parts off their cars and say ‘ I need to make this part lighter – what do you suggest ?’ 99 % of what we do is CNC racing parts and it ’ s geared around weight-saving and improving strength and safety .”
An additional benefit is that parts made using a CNC machine are not only cheaper in the long-term , but highly customisable . Dodd has found that once a customer has used a component of his team ’ s creation , they will often then return asking for adjustments to create something even more efficient . “ Without CNC and CAD / CAM , you wouldn ’ t be able to do that ,” he says . “ It wasn ’ t done 20 years ago , that ’ s for sure .”
Martin , whose family runs Percy Martin – a business which sells
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Williams F1 Machine Shop that manufactures over 100,000 pieces per year 35