Aerospace industry-grade carbon fibre comes to supercars with McLaren ART carbon [Photo Gallery]

With more than four decades of experience in exploiting the benefits of carbon fibre as an enabler of light weight, high performance, and structural strength, McLaren has driven key developments in racing and automotive uses for the material, making it not only the standard across the Formula 1 grid, but bringing it to the road, too. Every single McLaren ever made has been based on a carbon fibre monocoque, while McLaren also maximises the benefits of this lightweight, strong and durable material in body structures and aerodynamic systems, to unlock maximum performance and thrilling driving dynamics without compromise.

And McLaren Automotive has now developed a world-first application of a cutting-edge and highly specialised manufacturing process in the automotive sector, that will enhance its future models via a major leap forward in carbon fibre technology that augments the best attributes of the material, and more.

The aerospace industry uses ultra-precise manufacturing methods to build highly tailored carbon fibre structures for the latest generation of air jetliners and fighter aircraft, particularly for large, crucial parts such as aircraft fuselage and wings. This is achieved via the robotic depositing of composite tapes to layer structures, over traditional hand layup using pre-impregnated materials. And it is a rapid pace, ‘high rate’ version of this production method that McLaren has developed and now integrated into its manufacturing capabilities at the McLaren Composites Technology Centre (MCTC) in Sheffield, UK.

Called Automated Rapid Tape (ART), it unlocks the enormous potential to further enhance McLaren road cars with carbon fibre structures that are optimised to be even lighter, stiffer and stronger, produced with even greater consistency from part to part, and produced in a manner that generates less waste material. The resulting McLaren ART carbon fibre forms are also visually distinct from conventional hand-cut pre-impregnated carbon fibre components.

Completely revolutionising the aerospace industry method of using robotic arms to layer composite tapes, McLaren’s Automated Rapid Tape method instead employs a specially designed machine using a fixed deposition head and a rapidly moving bed capable of rotation, which unlocks a faster manufacturing process suitable for automotive purposes and high-rate composites manufacturing.

Greater design freedom for engineers
McLaren ART enables tailored fibre placement, creating new possibilities relating to load bearing or stiffness requirements not possible by conventional methods. It encourages innovation by freeing engineers from uniform material constraints. Specific adjustment of fibre orientation within the composite material allows for anisotropic stiffness – rigidity can be enhanced in specific directions while flexibility can be maintained elsewhere. This unlocks new ways to design highly loaded, complex aerodynamic components.

It also allows for optimised strength-to-weight. Fibres can be concentrated in areas subject to high stress or load, such as joints, edges, or connection points, in turn allowing for the removal of unnecessary material in low-stress regions.

Carbon fibre structures that are created with less waste
As measured lengths of dry composite tape are laid down when building out a part made of McLaren ART carbon fibre, there is a significant reduction in the generation of irregular-shaped off-cuts that cannot be reused. Up to 95% of the raw dry tape material used to layer a component goes into the final part. The automated process also reduces positioning inaccuracies and material loss caused by human error, ensuring that the final layup is within design tolerances, in turn minimising rejected parts. The automated element of the Automated Rapid Tape machine provides real-time monitoring and control, ensuring consistent process parameters and optimised part quality.

An enabler of greater use of carbon fibre
The advantages Automated Rapid Tape technology can deliver in terms of manufacturing time and reduced costs creates the possibility of greater use of carbon fibre, in more areas of a vehicle. Looking beyond the carbon tub, wider use of ultra-lightweight body panels constructed of McLaren ART carbon fibre become more feasible and cost effective.

This is not a future technology – it is already integrated into McLaren’s manufacturing processes. A prototype high-rate deposition machine has been installed at the McLaren Composites Technology Centre, and this first installation of Automated Rapid Tape technology will be upscaled to an industrial-spec machine later in 2025, with increased manufacturing capacity.

The first McLaren vehicle to feature McLaren ART carbon fibre is McLaren’s new Ultimate supercar, and the next car in the iconic ‘1’ car linage; the McLaren W1. The fixed plane within the active front wing assembly, an integral part of the car’s extraordinary aerodynamic package that can generate up to 1,000kg of downforce, is manufactured from McLaren ART carbon, benefitting from the increased stiffness of parts made using the Automated Rapid Tape process. The ART carbon fixed plane is up to 10% stiffer than a comparable pre-impregnated part, reflecting a significant enhancement considering its aerodynamic load bearing function. Further components made from ART carbon fibre are under consideration for production examples of the W1.

The Automated Rapid Tape production method and ART carbon structures also unlock immense possibilities for the next generation of carbon fibre architectures. Integrating this technology into the structure of an ultra-lightweight, ultra-strong carbon fibre tub – manufactured with minimal waste material generation – that can underpin the next-generation of McLaren supercars is already under consideration.