Page 40 - Australasian Paint & Panel Magazine Sep-Oct 2019

Winning formula
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PAINT&PANEL SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2019
WWW.PAINTANDPANEL.COM.AU
metal and carbon components join together. If there’s a step, we blend it out with filler.
“We’ll mask the component in any area where we don’t want paint. Then, we’ll typically apply two coats of primer, sometimes three depending on how dif- ficult the carbon is to paint. Bare carbon and filler can actually absorb quite a lot of primer, so we’re mindful of that.
“When it’s dried, we’ll flat it off again, de-mask and re-mask it to avoid dust and grease infiltrating the process, then we’ll start with the colour.” The first col- our to be applied is white. Washington’s team then builds the layers of orange and blue on top. Usually there are two top coats to get the correct finish on a grand prix car.
These are then coated in three litres of gloss lacquer to give it the deep sheen that always makes Formula One cars look so immaculate in front of the world’s TV cameras. Once this is complete, the components need to be heated to ensure the paint has been properly absorbed by the component and is fully dry.
FAST CURE
Washington says: “We’re able to heat the paintbooths to dry the paint. We ordinar- ily cure the finish for 40 to 45 minutes at temperatures of around 60 to 65OC. We’ve worked closely with our coatings partner AkzoNobel to create products that cure extremely quickly. In the paint shop, we’re always looking at ways of speeding up our processes. You have to remember that we’re often the last port of call for a part – they go straight from us to the
Formula One cars are 200-plus mph billboards and paintwork must reflect the sponsors who pay for it
in the best possible light.”
track – so the time-frame we must work within is always particularly tight.
“We recently received a new product from AkzoNobel, simply called ‘2.0’, which is a new formula created to make curing times shorter, sometimes by up to 40 minutes. It also works at a lower-tem- perature, which helps the environment. AkzoNobel’s 2.0 is a lacquer, which seals the paint in, setting at a very low temperature with a very hard finish. This means you can start polishing the surface as soon as it’s finished baking.”
WORKING ROUND THE CLOCK
And time is of the essence. During the season when the majority of parts have already been filled so simply require stripping, sanding and repainting, the entire MCL34 painting process still takes around 96 hours. That’s over three to four days because the unit within the paint shop works round the clock to get the job done.
With races coming thick and fast during the season (two grands prix fall on con- secutive weekends four times this year) travel time has to be factored into the equation. And with the job of repainting becoming increasingly involved, Wash- ington’s team has started to investigate al- ternative methods. Last year it evaluated
the idea of sending components that re- quire repainting to AkzoNobel paint shops near to the relevant circuit.
Not only does this cut time but there’s also a reduction in freight costs re- quired to get parts back to the UK. “For this year, we’re trying to get AkzoNobel paint shops in certain major global lo- cations to potentially do the jobs for us,” says Washington. “We wouldn’t do the full tub but will definitely explore the potential of getting front and rear wings painted locally.”
EVERY MICRON COUNTS
As you might expect with a Formula One team, McLaren leaves no stone unturned in its relentless pursuit of performance. And that includes the paint. The latest base coat is just 34 microns (0.03mm) thick with a double coat of lacquer that’s only 56 microns thick. This results in a 14% weight saving, bringing the 8sq m2 of paint enveloping each car down to 6.5kg.
Consider that if a car is just 3% (22kg) over the 740kg minimum weight it can translate into a lap time half a second slower. In a sport where the difference between success and failure can some- times be measured in thousandths of a second, every gram that’s saved can be vital.