Swiss sustainable lightweighting company Bcomp has collaborated with Skoda Motorsport to integrate natural fibre composites into the Skoda Enyaq RS Race and Skoda Fabia RS Rally2. It marks the start of an important new chapter for innovative and sustainable materials at Skoda Motorsport.
The Skoda Motorsport projects use two of Bcomp's flax-fibre-based natural composite technologies, ampliTex and powerRibs. The first, ampliTex, is a technical fabric designed for composite layups and the second, powerRibs, is a unique reinforcement structure to give ampliTex parts greater stiffness. The high-tech composite solutions are well-proven in motorsport and automotive applications.
Both ampliTex and powerRibs harness the properties of flax fibres to produce parts with excellent stiffness and damping properties, while also being lightweight. Critically, they offer up to 85% CO2 emission reduction from 'cradle to gate' and at the end of their life, parts can be used for thermal energy recovery without residual waste in the standard waste management system.
Skoda Enyaq RS Race: The Skoda Enyaq RS Race is a fully functional design and technology showcase from Skoda Motorsport based on the Enyaq Coupe RS production model but with several modifications to improve its performance and efficiency. This includes the use of Bcomp's bio-based materials, which contribute to the 316 kg reduction in the car's overall weight compared with the standard Enyaq Coupe RS. It is the latest project to come from the collaboration with Bcomp, benefitting from the success and lessons of the Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 programme.
It is powered by two electric motors producing a combined 340 horsepower, all-wheel-drive, carbon discs, and sport suspension to create a compelling high-performance package. The car has a reinforced body structure and just like the Skoda Fabia RS Rally2, it features numerous parts made from Bcomp's sustainable flax composites, including the roof, fenders, bumpers, sills, rear wing, co-driver footrest and leg rest, and more.
Skoda Fabia RS Rally2: For the Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 programme, Skoda Motorsport and Bcomp collaborated to identify potential applications. This resulted in the extensive use of flax composites throughout the interior and exterior of the rally car, including bumpers, mirror housings, footrests, padel box, leg rests and gearshift grommets. Conventionally, these parts would be made from carbon fibre, resulting in high lifecycle emissions.
The Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 received homologation from the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) on 1 September 2022 and even won its competitive debut at the Lausitz Rally, in Germany. It has been a mainstay of WRC2 ever since. So far, more than 100 Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 cars have been delivered to customers and the total number of Skoda Fabia cars in the Rally2 variant produced since 2015 has exceeded 600.
Michal Hrabanek, Head of Skoda Motorsport, commented: "While motorsport is often about all-out performance, sustainability is integral to the long-term relevance and success of racing. When we started working with Bcomp on the Fabia RS Rally2, we quickly realised that it was possible to achieve our performance metrics while embracing 'sustainable lightweighting' with natural fibre composites. Now, we have built upon this success with the Skoda Enyaq RS Race, highlighting our commitment to sustainable materials and our collaboration with Bcomp."
Johann Wacht, Key Account Manager Automotive & Motorsports at Bcomp, added: "Our collaboration with Skoda Motorsport has demonstrated what is possible when an OEM maintains an open mind about material selection and more sustainable alternatives. The Skoda Enyaq RS Race builds upon our fantastic success with the Fabia RS Rally2. It is laying the groundwork for race-to-road technology transfer; bringing sustainable composites into production models. We look forward to future work alongside the visionary Skoda Motorsport team."
Source - Bcomp.com
