At TriMech, our engineers are always excited about the technologies that we offer our clients. From the latest in CAD changes to the newest advancements in additive manufacturing, our goal is to have the best technical staff available. One of the ways that we encourage their advancement is by embracing the use of technologies for personal experiences and professional development.

During this multi-part video series, we are going to highlight one of our Senior Application Engineers, Ryan Zeck. Ryan has been racing since before he was nine years old and has always had a passion for going fast! So for this project we’ve given Ryan access to TriMech’s entire product portfolio to see how we can make his car, a Thunder Roadster, go even faster. 

The Thunder Roadster

The Thunder Roadster is a car designed to both look and go fast. It has a popular following because it was designed to be more accessible to younger drivers and you don’t need several corporate sponsors in order to race. Under the shell, is a sprint car-type roll cage and a driver-friendly long wheelbase. A fan (and driver) favorite is the open cockpit design for superior visibility.

Make Your Own Solutions

Unfortunately, part suppliers for race and track cars like the Thunder Roadster tend to be limited. Fortunately for us, Ryan has years of experience as a professional racer and is very familiar with the engineering that goes into getting the best performance possible. In fact, the main reason he became an engineer was to become a faster racer. He’s looked at the additive manufacturing tools and technologies that TriMech makes available to our clients and has come up with an outline of how to custom-upgrade some of the Thunder Roadster’s components.

Safety will be the main priority since the parts during the project will be used on an actual car! Making sure the components are made out of a material that can take the stress of racing conditions and fit perfectly into the existing car will be key. 

>> Watch our introductory video below as we talk to Ryan and go over our project plan. 

Tools We Will Need

Looking into TriMech’s software and hardware portfolio, we’ll need to utilize this combination of products:

• ARTEC 3D Scanners and GeoMagic for SOLIDWORKS will provide a digital model of the roadster for us to base our simulations on and create custom components around.
• SOLIDWORKS Flow (CFD) to provide insight into the aerodynamics of the Thunder Roadster body and engine airflow.
• SOLIDWORKS Simulation (FEA) to provide insight into suspension performance.
• Stratasys 3D printers to manufacture the custom end-use products in a timely and cost-effective manner out of the strong/light-weight materials we need.

Be on the lookout for more entries in this video series, as we will take a deep dive into each step of the project in upcoming blog posts. Click on the button below to read the next blog post in this series.