At Primary Designs we have extensive knowledge and experience of working in the exhaust design and manufacturing industry. Our CAD designers and exhaust technicians have over 20 years experience and work with some of the most highly respected and successful racing car designers, aerodynamicists and engineers in the motorsport industry.
This knowledge of exhaust design, alongside our expertise in the welding and fabrication of thin wall exotic alloys makes us the ideal partner to design and build high-performance racing exhausts for an extensive range of motorsport applications.
Design
Our design and fabrication team work closely with customer design teams from concept through to production, optimizing the exhaust system configuration, packaging, manufacturing methods and material specifications.
Most often, CAD models are supplied by the customer and are then broken down by Primary Designs to be used for producing a bill of materials, ordering parts, designing manufacturing jigs and for producing job information and patterns for the manufacturing process.
Where CAD models are not available Primary Designs can offer a full exhaust design service. Using the latest version of Siemens Solid Edge 3D CAD software, alongside their integrated program for 3D tube design and a custom developed add-on, designed to actively control primary lengths throughout the design process, we can quickly create a virtual rapid prototype of complex tubular exhaust components.
Taking into consideration any critical areas and creating full patterns to aid fabrication in the workshop, CAD greatly reduces the design and production time of these parts in comparison to hand building a prototype exhaust on the car.
Exhaust Technology
With over 22 years in the exhaust industry and many employees with more, Primary Designs is one of the most knowledgeable and experienced, high performance exhaust manufacturers in the world. We can build almost any specification of exhaust from a wide range of materials to suit a large variety of applications.
Some of our expertise include:
- Single seaters including Formula 1 and Formula 3
- WEC, DTM and WRC
- British Superbikes, MotoGP and light weight motorbike exhausts
- Light weight, heat resistant manifolds and exhausts for Hypercars
- Rotary engines and aerospace
- Inconel turbo-exhaust manifolds, anti-lag systems (ALS) and external wastegates.
- Exhaust noise-reduction solutions
- Dyno-exhausts for race engine manufacturers
- Prototype and one off exhausts
Materials
With motorsports constant drive for innovation and each team trying to find a new technology to get them over the finish line that 1/100th of a second quicker, we have had the chance to work with a wide range of different exhaust materials and grades over the last few decades. This has given us the opportunity over time to thoroughly test and perfect working with these metal alloys.
Stainless Steel – a high chromium steel alloy, it used to be the most common used material in motorsport for exhausts and still is for applications seeing lower exhaust gas temperatures. Popular because of its non-corrosive and heat resistant properties, it is still an affordable solution for custom built exhausts and motorsport applications.
Commonly used grades for exhausts are:
- 304
- 316
- 321
Nickel alloys – More commonly known by the trade name Inconel, are now the most used materials for exhausts in high end motorsports. Due to its high nickel content, Inconel retains its strength at extremely elevated temperatures, this allows exhausts to be made thinner and therefore lighter than exhausts made from other materials such as Stainless Steel.
Commonly used grades for exhausts are:
- 625
- 718
Titanium Alloys – although usually referred to as just Titanium, the name of its commercially pure form, exhausts are usually made from Titanium alloys. Whilst they are not as strong or as heat resistant as Inconel, they are nearly 50% of the weight and with weight control being key in the motorsport industry, especially Formula 1 and MotoGP, Titanium is making it’s return to the world of high performance exhausts.
Commonly used grades for exhausts are:
- Grade 1
- Grade 2
- Grade 5 (Ti-6Al-4V)
- KS Ti-1.2 ASNEX