Wayland Additive has partnered with USC Racing – Formula SAE Team to produce and supply a stand-out Titanium part, namely the exhaust collector, for the 2025 car.
Utilising additive manufacturing (AM) for production components on race cars is increasingly common practice. You might be tempted to think ‘3D Printing and Race Teams’ – yes, I’ve heard this before.
But have you?
Of course, racing teams were amongst the earliest adopters of additive technologies for prototyping since they first emerged more than three decades ago. They invested heavily in a new technology set that offered huge time-saving benefits for teams throughout a racing season. Since that time there has been a continuous evolution of the prototyping and end-use production applications on race cars that can be fulfilled by AM processes as they have developed and improved together with a growing and more functional materials palette. Polymer AM has penetrated the sector in a big way, but with the emergence of metal AM technologies such as NeuBeam from Wayland Additive, that can process more “difficult” materials, hugely complex metal applications are now possible and being proven to overcome engineering and manufacturing issues faced by the race teams of today.
Formula SAE is an annual engineering education competition that requires performance demonstration of race vehicles in a series of events, both off track and on track against the clock. It demands each team design, build, and race an internal combustion engine car — all within the school year and with limited resources.
Samuel McCarthy, a student at the University of Southern California (USC) and Suspension Lead for USC Racing – Formula SAE Team, took some time to explain this specific application for the 2025 car. He also highlights how Wayland’s NeuBeam process delivered an effective solution for a complex Titanium application that is difficult to manufacture using traditional methods but has not beeh possible with AM either, until now:
“The exhaust collector is the part that joins each cylinder’s exhaust into one stream and it directly affects engine efficiency and performance. Physically it is a complex part with a series of connected tubes. There are usually two critical design considerations: performance versus manufacturing difficulty. Optimal performance requires optimized angles of the tubes where the exhaust flow meets, a certain initial contact of flow. Manufacturing the ideal exhaust collector with these preferred angles is generally not possible with traditional methods, such as welding, and there is always a trade-off between the two. By using AM, specifically Wayland’s NeuBeam process, we have been able to minimise the trade-off and get the best of both worlds.”
To provide some insight, the challenges in manufacturing the USC Racing exhaust collector traditionally would require welding 1mm Titanium tubes. Nine of them to be more precise. Not only that, according to McCarthy: “The part would consist of 9 custom coped tubes, which means that they need to be cut by hand following complex contours, with compromises on the angles. In addition, five of the nine needed to be stretched to size. Getting all nine to fit together with minimal gaps takes many, many hours by a highly skilled fabricator, and even then, there is still margin for error.”
As well as overcoming the constraints of traditional manufacturing processes, going down the AM route also allowed USC Racing to address available space issues. “Because traditionally manufactured collectors are welded and made from tubes which must be cut very precisely at difficult angles it compounds available space problems: the tighter the packaging requirement the more difficult it is to make. The Wayland produced part reduced the length of our exhaust collector by 50%. And this is a really big deal.”
This successful project began when members of the USC team first approached Wayland at Rapid TCT in August 2024 seeking a collaborative relationship. Further discussion led to collaborative design and some subsequent test pieces ahead of producing the final part.
McCarthy also noted how the capabilities of the NeuBeam process and producing the part on Calibur3 were essential to the successful outcome: “The ability to produce a complex part of this nature in Titanium together with the low thermal stresses was fundamental for our application. The heat cycles seen and high vibratory environment could fracture a DMLS part. Also, the small hook retaining feature would have proven too difficult to descale.”
Keegan Duarte, Commercial Applications Engineer at Wayland Additive, took the lead on this project at the company’s HQ in Huddersfield. He commented: “Wayland’s Commercial Team worked closely with Sam and the USC Racing team to fully understand their technical and performance requirements. We collaborated through multiple design iterations to balance manufacturability with optimal part performance. NeuBeam’s low residual stress and minimal post-processing were key advantages for this demanding application. Being able to quickly turn around parts on the Calibur3 made a real difference under tight timelines. The collaboration demonstrated how Wayland’s technology can directly address and overcome practical manufacturing constraints. We hope to keep working with the USC team — wishing them the best of luck in their future races!”
It is also notable that the NeuBeam process considerably reduced the post-processing steps required for the exhaust collector. With no sinter cake around the part, it was quickly and easily removed from the powder bed and only needed minimal cleaning. That’s not to say there was no post processing, as McCarthy explained: “Some machining was required. The bore was machined to allow a sealing fit for each exhaust tube to be pressed into and a flange was machined to match a V-band, an industry standard exhaust quick disconnect.
The main challenge in machining any complex part is indicating and holding. A feature was included on the printed part to assist in indication. And a custom clamp was made to hold the part while machining, a standard practice.”
The part was delivered to USC Racing where it underwent a rigorous testing campaign, culminating in five simulated competitions each one adding over 22 km. The performance and reliability exhibited during testing carried through into the competition, which took place 14-17 May 2025.
USC Racing achieved its best result of 3rd in autocross, an event which challenges the car for the utmost pace, and achieved a team internal goal of completing an endurance event which only 49 of the 120 teams finished in 2024.
WAYLAND ADDITIVE
t. +44 (0)1484 248 888
e. [email protected]
w. www.waylandadditive.com
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.