Can you imagine it? A Hypercar made with spider silk instead of carbon. We are not on the set of the latest Spiderman film, but in the laboratory of Spidey Tek, an American company created to exploit the technologies developed by the Synthetic Biomanufacturing Facility of Utah State University. A place where a handful of fearless leaders are developing something that could become a revolution, and not just in the automotive field. But why spider silk? Because it is the strongest and lightest material on the planet, it bends where the fragile carbon fiber breaks and above all it costs much less than both carbon itself and aluminum or titanium. In short, it is the material that every engineer dreams of, because it is light, resistant, elastic and biocompatible.
Transgenic silkworms
The point is that to artificially carry out the work of the most harmless of garden spiders, extremely sophisticated technology is required, which researchers at Utah State University are developing using bacteria, alfalfa and transgenic silkworms. “A few grams of spider silk fibers – explains Roberto Velozzi, CEO of Spider Tek – can be stronger than titanium and more elastic than rubber, and absorb considerable amounts of energy before failure. This exceptionally lightweight biomaterial is an ideal replacement or reinforcement for carbon fiber composites.”
The Velozzi Hypercar
From spider silk to the car the step is neither short nor simple. The starting point was a project that the CEO of Spider Tek himself had in the pipeline for more than 15 years: a Hypercar that bears his name, Velozzi, based on a Lotus project and equipped with a Cosworth aspirated V12 engine and a Weissman transmission. A car whose destiny was to test the use of alternative fuels and which instead now, with the arrival of spider silk, could become the forerunner of a new chapter ready to overturn in one fell swoop all unconventional engineering beliefs. only of the car, but also of everything that is made with the very expensive carbon. And we idiots, who chased spiders away with brooms!
#car #spider #silk #carbon #Formulapassion
