Automotive: Lighter cars

Westfield Sportscars is reducing the weight of cars

Who

West Midlands-based manufacturer Westfield Sportscars has used technology commonly employed in Tour de France racing bicycles to reduce the weight of cars.

Technology

High-performance alloy tubing used by Westfield’s neighbour, Reynolds Technology, to make bicycles has been used to replace traditional mild steel in a car chassis. The project has been carried out with the assistance of Penso Consulting and Delta Motorsport and relies on 631 steel tubing from Reynolds. 

Application

A car wishbone and chassis has been created with the high-performance alloy tubing. Dr Paul Faithfull, technical director at Westfield, said: “Westfield is constantly striving to reduce weight. Through this project we have developed a new wishbone which is 31% lighter than current product, stronger than current product, and aesthetically more pleasing.

“Based on this success we have developed a full chassis using the Reynolds tubing to achieve a 15% weight reduction, while increasing chassis stiffness by 15%.”

The project has been part-funded by regional development agency Advantage West Midlands and is managed by Cenex. 

Keith Noronha, Reynolds Technologies managing director, says: “These outcomes have been achieved using one of our core materials, 631 tubing. There is scope to go even further as we are achieving world-class strength-to-weight ratios with tubes made from our ‘maraged’ stainless steels [a specially developed martensitic-ageing stainless steel alloy], which are four to five times stronger than mild steel.

“In addition, further application of our butting processes – patented in 1898 – will thin the tube wall to 0.3mm to achieve a 40% weight reduction and retain the necessary thickness at joints for welding, optimising the tube structure for the greatest possible net gain.”