NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Autodesk will be the primary sponsor of Shawn Langdon’s Kalitta Motorsports Top Fuel dragster during the DeWalt NHRA Carolina Nationals at zMax Dragway. 

Since 2015, the team has worked with Autodesk, a global leader in 3D design, engineering, and entertainment software to create product designs and expand manufacturing capabilities for the multitime world championship drag racing team. More than 1,000 parts are now designed and made in the Kalitta Motorsports CNC, chassis, and fabrication shop using Autodesk solutions. 

“We have built our entire parts manufacturing and design program with the help of Autodesk technology,” said Chad Head, Kalitta Motorsports general manager. “We started in 2015 machining our clutch assemblies, and now, we are doing clutch assemblies, cylinder heads, and so many more parts. It is huge cost savings and so much more efficient. The Autodesk software is a game-changer for us, and they are an integral part of our success at Kalitta Motorsports and Kalitta Air.”

The Autodesk product Design and Manufacturing Collection enabled Kalitta to design the clutch assembly in Autodesk Inventor and make it using Autodesk’s best-in-class CAM machining solutions.  Specifically, “adaptive” tool paths result in light, fast, and constant-engagement strategies that widely replace slower, heavier cuts. The resulting improvements in tool life and performance have reduced machining time on main clutch components from 30 hours to 10. 

“Our work with Kalitta Motorsports is a great example of how technology can improve the safety, reliability, and performance of complex assemblies in automotive applications,” said Scott Reese, executive vice president of Product Development and Manufacturing Solutions at Autodesk. “Kalitta uses our software to create digital twins for its high-performance racing components, which means our role is to help them capture and model data, then rapidly extract insights from that data to deliver better outcomes. We’re thrilled to be working with the champions at Kalitta to help improve their performance on and off the track.”