Manufacturing 35% lighter titanium uprights for Formula Student
In Formula Student, engineering compromises are not an option; they are the difference between the podium and the paddock. For the Málaga Racing Team (MART), the 2025 season brought a massive architectural shift: the transition to a fully electric powertrain for their new challenger, the MA25RT.
Electric drive offers superior torque and acceleration, but it comes with a heavy penalty: the battery pack. To keep the car competitive, the team had to aggressively shed weight elsewhere. They identified the Rear Upright (or wheel carrier) as the primary candidate for optimization.
This component is the structural link between the suspension and the road. It endures punishing braking, cornering, and vertical loads. MART turned to Meltio’s Wire-Laser Metal Deposition (LMD) technology to achieve what traditional machining could not: a drastic reduction in mass without compromising stiffness.
Formula Student, also known as Formula SAE, is an international motor racing competition between universities that promotes excellence in engineering through the study, design, development and manufacture of a single-seater racing car. Universities from around the world take on the challenge of building an open-wheel car to compete in a series of static and dynamic tests that push the limits of the future bright minds of engineering.
In 2016, a group of 15 engineering students embarked on the adventure of creating their own Formula Student team at the University of Malaga. This led to the creation of MART FS, a racing team run entirely by students who, after years of novelty, motivation and uncertainty, managed to present their first complete single-seater in 2021.
“This collaboration not only allowed us to enhance the performance of our race car but also to massively expand our knowledge of one of the most promising technologies shaping the future of manufacturing.»
MART Team
1. The limits of CNC machining for complex geometries
The upright is part of the vehicle’s unsprung mass, components not supported by the suspension (wheels, uprights, brakes). In vehicle dynamics, unsprung weight is the enemy.
The team uses a classic engineering analogy:
«Think of an athlete and their footwear; the lighter the shoes, the faster the reaction.»
MART needed a material with a higher strength-to-weight ratio than aluminum and a manufacturing method that could place material only where the load paths required it.
2. Moving from block machining to organic shapes
The team selected Ti-6Al-4V (Grade 5 Titanium). It offers the strength of steel at roughly 60% of the density and provides superior fatigue resistance compared to aluminum.
However, Titanium is notoriously difficult and expensive to machine from a billet. The challenge was to utilize Design for Additive Manufacturing to create a «near-net-shape» part that required minimal finishing.
The engineering constraints were tight:
3. Leveraging LMD for Titanium fabrication
MART collaborated with Meltio to produce the uprights. Unlike powder-bed systems, Meltio’s LMD process uses a laser to melt metal wire directly onto a substrate.
4. Achieving a 2.5kg reduction per wheel assembly
The switch to Meltio technology allowed MART to move from a standard mechanical assembly to a highly optimized, high-performance component. The data speaks for itself:
“The implementation of Meltio’s LMD technology has transformed the way MART FS approaches both design and production. The possibility of manufacturing geometrically complex titanium parts directly from digital models allows for full exploitation of Design for Additive Manufacturing (DfAM) principles, reducing weight, consolidating multiple components into single parts, and improving stiffness-to-weight ratios.
This directly translates into enhanced vehicle performance by reducing unsprung mass, improving dynamic response, and optimizing packaging within the car’s wheel assemblies.»
MART Team
5. Validating Meltio’s LMD for critical structural parts
For MART, Meltio was not just a manufacturing alternative; it was a strategic enabler for their electric vehicle transition. They successfully validated that wire-laser metal 3D printing is not just for prototyping; it is a viable production method for critical, high-load structural components in motorsport.
By leveraging LMD, they solved the unsprung mass problem, utilized high-performance Titanium without the prohibitive waste of machining, and secured a competitive edge for the 2025 Formula Student season.
To know more about this use case, click HERE