Case Study: Formula Group T achieves the world's first 3D-printed race car — race-ready in 3 weeks — with Materialise

The Areion by Formula Group T The World’s First 3D Printed Race Car

Formula Group T, a 16‑member student engineering team, set out to build the Areion—the world’s first largely 3D‑printed race car—and needed large‑scale, high‑precision additive manufacturing to produce an integrated, lightweight, eco‑friendly body and complex functional parts. To meet that challenge they partnered with Materialise for stereolithography and engineering support, using Materialise’s Mammoth stereolithography machines and design tools like Materialise 3‑matic.

Materialise printed the car shell and functional components in a single, integrated workflow—producing parts up to 2100 x 680 x 800 mm, adding integrated clips, connection points, shark‑skin texture on the nose, and complex cooling channels in the side pods—and turned initial shell design into a finished 3D‑printed body in just three weeks. The Areion reached 0–100 km/h in 4 seconds and a top speed of 141 km/h on track; Formula Group T completed two races, earned two awards (Best Teamwork and the Craig Dawson MVP), and finished 11th at Hockenheim, demonstrating the real‑world performance and speed of Materialise’s large‑format 3D printing solutions.

Formula Group T