Case Study: Kalitta Motorsports achieves 84% component cost reduction and faster in-house production with 3D Systems' GibbsCAM

GibbsCAM Software Helps Race-Team Mechanics Become CNC Experts

Kalitta Motorsports, a longtime NHRA racing team, faced rising costs and long lead times from outsourcing critical race components while having limited in-house machining capability and no CNC programming expertise. The shop needed a way to cut part costs, control quality, and gain the flexibility to produce custom and prototype parts quickly to support multiple teams and rapid turnarounds between runs.

By adopting GibbsCAM (later adding the Solids Machining option) alongside SolidWorks, training mechanics on the software and adding CNC capacity (including a fourth axis), Kalitta brought complex parts in-house. The team cut blower-rotor-bearing end-frame costs by 84%, reduced fuel-block weight by 35%, sped roughing operations (saving ~15 minutes on two-hour jobs), improved quality control, and now supplies parts to other teams—achieving much greater manufacturing self-sufficiency.

Kalitta Motorsports

Scott Finnis

Cylinder Head Mechanic