Archived Automotive Sector News - 2009

Editors - please refer to the Notes to Editors for background information on Umeco plc and its operating divisions.

New Donkervoort D8 GT Destined for the Grid Line-Up at the Dunlop 24 Hour Race in Dubai 2010

ACG Materials for 45th Anniversary Ford Mustang

ACG Materials Used for Planet-Saving, Hydrogen-Powered Car

ACG Attains ISO / TS16949 Accreditation

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New Donkervoort D8 GT Destined for the Grid Line-Up at the Dunlop 24 Hour Race in Dubai 2010 - 20th October 2009

Structural prepregs, and an industry-standard car body system from Advanced Composites Group Ltd (ACG), part of the Composites Division of Umeco plc, are being used by Donkervoort Automobielen to build its new D8 GT competition race car for the 5th Edition Dunlop 24H of Dubai, scheduled for mid-January 2010.

The ‘Donkervoort’ is widely regarded as the ultimate package for the real car enthusiast. It is for the aficionado who wants no compromise in driving pleasure. Donkervoort cars are ultra-light, incredibly powerful and offer the road-holding characteristics of a racing car. Donkervoort believes that it has created the car that will make the hearts of many car lovers skip a beat. Today's Donkervoort has, without doubt, moved on from the very first models. A programme of continuous development has brought deserved rewards, including improved quality, and modern and attractive styling, which has led to the current D8-series, regarded as the ultimate in sports cars, created for the real car enthusiast.

31 years have passed since Joop Donkervoort first decided to build his own sports cars, and his passion for perfection in all aspects of the car has found expression in the D8 GT. The first cars with a 650Kg all carbon chassis and body, making them the world’s lightest GT race cars, were finished just days before their debut in the 2007 FIA GT4 Sport Light Series in Spa Francorchamps. The Donkervoort Team reaped the rewards for their unyielding effort, taking 1st and 3rd places in its first ever racing kilometres!

Today, ACG’s VTM®260 (Variable Temperature Moulding) Series, vacuum-only curing prepreg, and BPS240 Car Body Panel System are used extensively across the new 2010 race car. Continuous development of the chassis and bodywork finds ever more extensive application of ACG’s materials. Body parts, including the roof, mudguards and underbody panel, together with structural elements, including the rear chassis and the combined scuttle and windscreen framework, are all benefiting from a combination of improved stiffness and weight reduction. The high surface quality of the prepreg moulded components minimises surface reworking and, in many cases, the parts do not require painting, further reducing the overall weight of the car. For exterior panels on both the race car and the road version of the D8, ACG’s BPS240 Body Panel System is proving so effective that it is basically paint-ready straight from the mould.

The production process has also being streamlined as the company migrates away from the original pressed metal panelling and wet lay-up of polyester and glass to the manufacture of the cleaner, safer and cost-effective processing route obtainable through the application of ACG prepregs.

ACG’s technical personnel have assisted Donkervoort throughout, with onsite support and manufacturing advice flowing from its manufacturing division, Advanced Composite Engineering (ACE), and the Group’s Technology Centre. In particular, the combined scuttle and windscreen framework, which is manufactured in a single process using just vacuum for consolidation, was the subject of some discussion in the early days. Personnel from ACG’s R&D and Applied Technologies departments provided guidance on the tooling and manufacture of this complex shape using a variety of carbon, glass and Kevlar in both unidirectional and fabric formats. The result was a structure which passed strict FIA testing with flying colours.

Photograph courtesy of: Donkervoort Automobielen

For further information please contact:

Advanced Composites Group
Jon Stowell – Sales and Marketing Director
Telephone: +44 (0)1773 766200
Web site: www.acg.co.uk

ACG Materials for 45th Anniversary Ford Mustang - 20th September 2009

Pregreg materials from ACG have been used in the manufacture of a new version of the Ford Mustang, an iconic American muscle car originally launched forty-five years ago at a dramatic press conference at the ‘1964½’ New York World’s Fair.

To mark its 45th anniversary, auto industry visionary Lee Iacocca recently announced a new version of the famous car – the Iacocca Silver 45th Anniversary Edition Ford Mustang – a breathtaking vehicle that utilises the latest in Ford performance technology with a style and panache that screams ‘Mustang fastback’. Only forty-five of the painted ‘2009½’ Iacocca Silver (“Iacocca” chosen silver hue), 45th Anniversary Edition Ford Mustangs will be built.

Nearly two years in the making, the Iacocca Silver Edition Mustang is a collaborative venture between Iacocca designer Michael Leone and Gaffoglio Family Metalcrafters Inc. (GFMI), the world-class coach-building and Design & Engineering Company in Fountain Valley, California. The new business venture is called ‘I Legacy’, and it will, in concert with Galpin Ford, the exclusive Ford dealership, offer the Iacocca Silver 45th Anniversary Edition Ford Mustang to the public.

“Once in a while a car comes along that changes everything, and that was the original Mustang,” said Iacocca. The “Father of the Mustang” has returned to the legend that started it all; the Silver Edition Mustang perpetuates the Iacocca mystique. The lines of the new Iacocca Silver Edition Mustang flow organically from front to rear, a hand-crafted piece of rolling art, but the mechanical underpinnings are true American muscle. With its sunken headlights, slanted grill and low stance, the car exudes real “street attitude.”

The Limited Edition Mustang begins life on a 2009 Mustang platform, which is then modified and coach-built using ACG's LTM®26EL panels to replace approximately 50% of the visual and inner panels on the vehicle, including the hood, deck lid, front grill panel, front and rear underskirts, rear tail light panel and rear quarter panel extensions, and the RH and LH roof side panels.

LTM26EL, which is the extended life version of ACG’s LTM®26 Series prepregs, was specially formulated to cure at low initial cure temperatures. With an out life of 7 days, LTM26EL is ideally suited to this type of application, giving true flexibility to accomplish component lay up procedures while also offering flexible processing via autoclave, press or vacuum bag moulding techniques. After post-cure, LTM26EL is suitable for service temperatures up to 115°C (239°F) dry or 90°C (194°F) wet.

John Gaffoglio, who founded GFMI in 1979, was born and raised in Argentina. He diligently practiced the art of metal crafting by hand and later taught his eldest sons, George and Ruben, the same skills. He then decided to bring their talent to America. Today, GFMI is a diversified company that includes Aerospace and Defence, glass forming and laminating automotive, aircraft and trains) along with their automotive business.

For further information please contact:

Advanced Composites Group
Jon Stowell – Sales and Marketing Director
Telephone: +44 (0)1773 766200
Web site: www.acg.co.uk

Photographs courtesy of the Ilegacy.com website.

Further information: http://ilegacy.com/iacoccafastbackwelcome.htm
www.metalcrafters.com
www.gfmiaero.com

ACG Materials Used for Planet-Saving, Hydrogen-Powered Car - 16th September 2009

Materials manufactured by Advanced Composites Group Ltd (ACG), part of the Composites Division of Umeco plc, have been used by futuristic company Riversimple to produce their hydrogen-powered urban car concept. Riversimple, a revolutionary transport company, aims to create a cleaner world through the design, manufacture and ownership of hydrogen vehicles.

Unveiled to the public in early June 2009, the body shell and bonnet of Riversimple’s lightweight two-seater urban car concept were manufactured in one-shot processes using ACG’s LTM®26ELB (extended out life, black pigmented) epoxy prepreg materials, which permit the use of low cost tooling and manufacturing technologies. The car is said to be nippy, silent and, more importantly, pollution free!

Estimated annual running costs, inclusive of fuel and maintenance, for urban use are said to be approximately £2,500. With a compact hydrogen fuel cell powering four electric motors, one mounted at each of the wheel hubs. The car is capable of delivering a top speed of 50mph and can travel 200 miles between refueling stops.

Riversimple’s vision is of a future where mankind’s relationship with the car and fossil fuels has changed dramatically for the better, with new solutions in place for sustainable and responsible mobility.

Riversimple’s urban car aims to be as environmentally friendly as possible, emitting no carbon dioxide from the exhaust. However, Hugo Spowers, Riversimple’s urban car concept project leader, admitted that, because of the processes required to make the hydrogen were not totally environmentally friendly, for each kilometer travelled 30grams of carbon dioxide would be produced. He also added that this was "a quarter of the lowest emissions of any car in the market today", and there was a possibility that greener techniques could be developed on the back of this technology.

The processing technique employed by Riversimple was out-of-autoclave vacuum bagging, the simplest and cheapest route. However, these versatile prepregs can also be press moulded and autoclave cured. Clear, fire-retarded and low smoke (DIN5510, M1 compliant) variants of this resin system are also available.

For further information, please contact:

Advanced Composites Group
Jon Stowell – Sales and Marketing Director
Telephone: +44 (0)1773 766200
Web site: www.acg.co.uk

Image: Copyright Riversimple

ACG Attains ISO / TS 16949 Automotive Market Accreditation Standard - 4th March 2009

Advanced Composites Group Ltd (ACG), part of the Composites Division of Umeco plc, a leading manufacturer of high quality, customised advanced composite carbon fibre materials to the road car, luxury sports car, aerospace and motorsport markets, has attained Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance approval for ISO / TS 16949.

ACG is the first carbon composite material supplier to qualify for TS 16949 and support the automotive industry’s drive to adopt lightweight, environmentally friendly technology.

This achievement paves the way to widening the Group’s existing scope of supply of advanced composites materials into the global automotive industry, underlining an existing strategy to introduce cost-effective solutions that deliver benefits to a wider audience.

Qualifying for TS 16949 has always been a prerequisite to ACG’s goal of supplying its materials into rapidly growing global automotive businesses and it is, therefore, with great pleasure that the Group can now publicly acknowledge that it has been rewarded for its continuous improvement activities at its Heanor, Derbyshire, UK facility.

This achievement follows considerable team effort and a growing enthusiasm for the benefits accrued in the use of the prescribed tools and techniques encompassed in the standard. Credit goes to all employees actively engaged on the improvements and the process modifications required to achieve certification.

The award enhances and underlines the Group’s commitment to delivering best practice support to the varied market sectors served. While ACG’s global operations are already accredited to ISO9001, the Group’s Heanor, Tulsa, and Manchester facilities are complemented by aerospace best practice accreditation to AS9100. The Group’s efforts to attain TS 16949 accreditation will continue with full proliferation across all sites.

The Group considers attainment of this standard as an opportunity to bring about major improvements within its composites market supply chain, as well as taking the company one step closer to reaching its goal in business excellence and becoming a world-class composites solutions provider, a vision that is etched into the Group’s global mission statement.

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