The Digital Manufacturing Centre at Silverstone Park featured in Channel 4’s British Formula 1 Grand Prix coverage from Silverstone for helping to manufacture the trophies presented to the race winner Lewis Hamilton and runners-up Max Verstappen and Lando Norris.
DMC engineers and technicians worked with local sculpture artist Alastair Gibson (Carbon Art 45) to develop the intricate trophies, made from disused F1 car parts and high performance materials.
DMC Founder Kieron Salter commented: “We’ve worked with Alastair, who was once an F1 mechanic, on a number of projects and were delighted when he asked if we’d like to collaborate with him to make the trophies for the British Grand Prix – knowing they would be presented on the Silverstone Wing’s podium which is just 200 yards from our front door!
“Using ex-F1 and F1-inspired parts makes the trophies unique and is also a great advert for sustainability, as is the fact that companies local to Silverstone have been used. We also deployed additive manufacturing in the development phase to reduce waste, shorten lead times and be efficient in the process.”
Kieron added: “It’s a really exciting design – all of the trophies for the first, second and third-placed drivers, plus the winning constructor (Mercedes), are ‘see-through’ so no matter what angle you look at them from you can see straight through to the other side.
“Using additive manufacturing, we were able to support Alastair with the all-important physical realisation of how this might look whilst dealing with very short lead times.
“It was really cool seeing Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen and Lando Norris lift the trophies but above all it made me very proud of all the staff at DMC for the work they put into the project which also highlighted again just how diverse companies at Silverstone Park can be.”
DMC is an engineering led contract additive manufacturing facility that provides high performance engineering and manufacturing with metals and polymers, servicing sectors including motorsport, space, aerospace, performance sport and defence.
CLICK HERE to watch a 10-minute documentary showing how Alastair Gibson and the Digital Manufacturing Centre created the trophies for the 2024 British F1 Grand Prix at Silverstone.
