Photo: Gordon Murray Challenge
We’ve known for a few years now that carbon fiber was, one way of the other, the future material of choice in the automotive industry, we just didn’t know when or how it would be made available to the non-premium brands.
Now we know, and the answer is iStream Carbon, the world’s first affordable high-volume carbon fiber chassis structure developed by Gordon Murray Design. Gordon Murray needs no introduction, being involved with Formula One and a little car that went by the name McLaren F1 and held the record for the world’s fastest production car for a few good years.
Lately, Gordon Murray has been investing in iStream Manufacturing System, a production process meant to reduce the time, costs and difficulty involved in building intricate carbon fiber parts. The iStream Carbon chassis is derived directly from the continuous development of this system.
As it happened in Yamaha’s case, Gordon Murray Design intends to offer manufacturers the opportunity to work with a ready-made extremely light-weight chassis, a move that would save them time and money while at the same time offering unequalled safety levels and incredible chassis rigidity.
Unlike other manufacturing processes, the iStream Carbon is a fully mechanized procedure with a cycle time of just 100 seconds. One of the novelties behind Gordon Murray’s technique is using a honeycomb structure sandwiched between two carbon fiber sheets, a procedure that’s faster, cheaper, but just as efficient as the more expensive ones.
With annual production volumes of up to 350,000 units per year, the iStream Carbon could very well be used for more accessible, larger production number models.
With the ever more stringent restrictions on emissions, engine displacement will have to go down, and the only way to maintain performance levels is for the weight to drop. This is where mass-produced carbon fiber comes in.
“Light weighting is the final frontier in the automotive industry fight to lower emissions. There have been great strides forward in engine design, electrical control systems, tyre design and transmission technology, but we are now experiencing a plateau in the advance of technology where the law of diminishing returns comes into play. A step change in vehicle weight to enable downsizing of powertrain and components is all we have left in the armoury. Light weighting is important for internal combustion engined cars, but even more important for hybrids and electric vehicles. iStream® and iStream® Carbon is that step change and is the world's first affordable, high volume bonded composite structure that sets new standards of safety, rigidity and durability. iStream® delivers performance through lightweight. iStream® Carbon does not replace our existing iStream® manufacturing process, it sits alongside our standard system to open up more market segments for us. We are currently working on seven vehicles using our original iStream® technology”.
Lately, Gordon Murray has been investing in iStream Manufacturing System, a production process meant to reduce the time, costs and difficulty involved in building intricate carbon fiber parts. The iStream Carbon chassis is derived directly from the continuous development of this system.
As it happened in Yamaha’s case, Gordon Murray Design intends to offer manufacturers the opportunity to work with a ready-made extremely light-weight chassis, a move that would save them time and money while at the same time offering unequalled safety levels and incredible chassis rigidity.
Unlike other manufacturing processes, the iStream Carbon is a fully mechanized procedure with a cycle time of just 100 seconds. One of the novelties behind Gordon Murray’s technique is using a honeycomb structure sandwiched between two carbon fiber sheets, a procedure that’s faster, cheaper, but just as efficient as the more expensive ones.
With annual production volumes of up to 350,000 units per year, the iStream Carbon could very well be used for more accessible, larger production number models.
With the ever more stringent restrictions on emissions, engine displacement will have to go down, and the only way to maintain performance levels is for the weight to drop. This is where mass-produced carbon fiber comes in.
“Light weighting is the final frontier in the automotive industry fight to lower emissions. There have been great strides forward in engine design, electrical control systems, tyre design and transmission technology, but we are now experiencing a plateau in the advance of technology where the law of diminishing returns comes into play. A step change in vehicle weight to enable downsizing of powertrain and components is all we have left in the armoury. Light weighting is important for internal combustion engined cars, but even more important for hybrids and electric vehicles. iStream® and iStream® Carbon is that step change and is the world's first affordable, high volume bonded composite structure that sets new standards of safety, rigidity and durability. iStream® delivers performance through lightweight. iStream® Carbon does not replace our existing iStream® manufacturing process, it sits alongside our standard system to open up more market segments for us. We are currently working on seven vehicles using our original iStream® technology”.
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