30th June 2022
DEXET applies composite design expertise to brand-new GTO Engineering Squalo
With decades of cumulative composite engineering experience, DEXET Technologies today announces a technical partnership with GTO Engineering to develop and engineer the innovative carbon fibre monocoque for its upcoming Squalo production car. The low-volume, bespoke, £1.38m GTO Engineering Squalo is built with driving at its heart. Aimed to weigh in at sub-1,000kg, driven by a manual gearbox and paired to GTO Engineering’s naturally aspirated, high revving, 460 bhp V12 engine, DEXET will work together with GTO Engineering on one of the most important elements of Squalo: its monocoque chassis.
London, UK: 30 June 2022
DEXET Technologies, the UK-based, leading composite design and engineering consultancy has confirmed today that it is designing an all-new carbon fibre monocoque for the GTO Engineering Squalo. The latest in a revered string of development partnerships, DEXET forms part of a strategic collaboration with GTO Engineering and its Squalo production car, due for release in Q4 2023.
The relationship between DEXET Technologies and GTO Engineering began a year ago, when Mark Lyon, the late founder of GTO Engineering, approached the team at DEXET to start discussions and design consultation meetings around applying its knowledge to the Squalo.
The Squalo development schedule is making amazing progress towards GTO Engineering’s ambitious targets – none more so than the sub-1,000 kg kerb weight – set to deliver a unique driving experience. To achieve that, GTO Engineering will lean on DEXET’s composite and lightweighting experience, derived largely from Formula One and low volume, bespoke production cars, to develop the monocoque chassis from-the-ground-up for Squalo.
Founder and CEO of DEXET Technologies, Francesco Aglietti said: “We’ve been working with GTO Engineering for a little over a year now, employing our decades’ worth of Formula One engineering experience – gained from top teams such as Ferrari, McLaren, and Mercedes-AMG – to GTO Engineering’s coveted Squalo project. With such experience, we are all too aware of the importance of achieving ambitious milestones within automotive development schedules, which makes us excited to play a pivotal role in the creation of a truly distinguished car.
“The Squalo monocoque chassis and bodywork has construction methods only used in the most prominent of hypercars. These methods are not even employed in the mainstream supercar market, so make no mistake, Squalo is going to be a brand new and unique sportscar. We’re so proud to be a UK-based company working with another prominent British brand to make real strides in composite engineering.”
The fully carbon fibre monocoque chassis and bodywork will be imperative to maintain the design specification weight of sub-1,000kg. Coupling the cutting-edge chassis with a completely brand-new 4.0-litre quad-cam V12 engine producing 460 bhp is stated to be a recipe that will make a second-to-none driving experience, something GTO Engineering has been ardent and passionate about adding to, from the very beginning.
DEXET’s next steps will be to define and freeze the Squalo’s interior specification so the brand-new carbon fibre tub can be designed around known parameters. Although not involved in the manufacture of the recently revealed 3D-printed Squalo buck, the DEXET team will use the buck and work with GTO Engineering to create a perfectly ergonomic interior before finalising the tub structure. Once the interior parameters have been defined, DEXET engineers will analyse the full chassis in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and finite element analysis (FEA) software. CFD enables the user to put a computer-designed model through real-world situations, enabling DEXET to analyse the carbon fibre body shape for efficiency and performance in terms of cooling as well as aerodynamics. The latter software package – FEA – gives DEXET’s engineers the ability to put real-world load cases through the computer-designed chassis to see where its strengths and weaknesses are before investing in a physical prototype, enabling the design to be optimised for strength, stiffness and weight before production.
With unprecedented innovation and new technologies on the horizon, design in the automotive sector is constantly evolving, with effective collaboration between organisations being pivotal to create successful products. This newly announced partnership will bring together aesthetics, functionality and product manufacturability that is in line with up-to-date engineering technology. DEXET will design - from start to finish - the Squalo monocoque chassis, body-in-white and tooling, which features methods and technologies only seen in the ultra-modern hypercar world.
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Contacts:
Hannah Burgess
Communications Director
UK mobile: +44 (0) 7730 570975
London, UK
Email: hannah@hannahburgesspr.com
Notes to Editors:
DEXET Technologies is an independent technology consulting firm. It specialises in design engineering and simulation specific to mechanical and advanced composites.
DEXET Technologies is a company founded by experienced engineers who have a background in Formula One and high-performance automotive engineering. Working in a fast-paced, innovative and creative industry allows the team to push the boundaries in design, creating products that win awards and stay ahead of the competition.
Utilising learnings from Formula One, DEXET Technologies has also rapidly disrupted a range of industries outside of automotive and motorsport engineering. It has done this by using lessons in management, design, composite materials and collaborating with leading technical partners.
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