Production of first series and assembly
DAVINCI development A/S has entered Danish motorsport, where we have entered into collaboration with the Danish Thundersport Championship, for the development of bodywork for the motorsport series, based on high-end sports coupes. The development is centered around an Audi RS5 and a Mercedes AMG C63. A Chevrolet Camaro, which is one of the existing DTC racers, is used as a reference. After handing over the production base, only the first production, the fitting of parts onto the chassis, and the final test remains.
Production of the first series
In connection to the production of the panels, suppliers and sub-suppliers were visited to ensure a proper understanding of the design decisions and specifications. It turned out that the sub-suppliers had specific requests regarding windows and brackets, concerning e.g. materials, which we were asked to validate before they proceeded.
Fitting the parts onto the chassis
When all parts had been sent to production, there was an opportunity to follow the fitting process of one of the new cars, by visiting a team that had bought one of the bodyworks. Although the fitting normally takes several days, we chose to spend one day with the team. A lot of our talks were concerned with the team’s good and bad experiences with the bodywork. In addition, we delivered some measures from our 3D CAD model, which they requested.
The prefabricated frames were adjusted, so they would fit the panels and the chassis, whereafter the panels could be rivetted onto the frames. Afterwards, brackets and windows were fitted. Our impression was that especially the door and the frames in the front were challenging to fit onto the chassis. We will bring this knowledge with us to a potential further collaboration.
Despite these tiny issues, it was a positive and beneficial experience, where we saw a highly professional team that know their craft.
We came to know that some teams were worried about the thin panel edges, and wished stiffer flanges, which also turned out to be thinner than intended. Along with our customer, it was decided to locally reinforce all panel edges and flanges with an increased laminate thickness in the following production series.
The final test
The first race of the year took place at Jyllandsringen on the 22nd and 23rd of April, where we were invited. On the day of the race, we were welcomed by Peter Elgaard, who quickly gave us an impression of what he had heard from some of the teams. Moreover, the day was spent talking to several teams and drivers about the new design. Especially our talks with Team Flexleasing was beneficial. They have chosen the design based on the AUDI RS5, which we had not yet had the chance to see fitted on the chassis.
One week after the race, we held a meeting with our customer, the Race Committee and several teams, where we went through the project and clarified what had to be done in order to finish the project, and discussed which future development potentials the stakeholders saw.
Now, the project is nearly concluded, and everyone from the project team are working on new, exciting projects.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDX_uDvtD4c&width=400&height=250[/embedyt]
Read more about the project here:
Phase 1 – The first steps in the DTC project
Phase 2 – Modeling of the bodywork
Phase 3 – Flow simulation of bodywork
Phase 4 – Production base
