08/04/2026
Sandwich core-
Carbon foam-core composites are one of those upgrades that actually make sense once you stop messing around with solid carbon or heavier alternatives.
Instead of a solid slab, you bond two thin, high-strength carbon skins to a lightweight foam core. That sandwich setup is the whole point.
Stiffness-
The core spaces the carbon skins farther apart, which is where the real gain comes from. Bending stiffness scales with the cube of thickness, so roughly doubling the overall thickness multiplies stiffness by about a factor of 8. You end up with the rigidity of a much thicker solid laminate while staying a lot lighter. Floors, bulkheads, diffuser tunnels, and aero parts stay stiff under load instead of flexing and giving away downforce.
Durability-
Thin solid carbon tends to crack or delaminate when it takes a hit. Foam-core panels handle impact energy better because the core acts like a small crumple zone and spreads the load. Adding Kevlar in the high-wear or impact zones (leading edges, floor corners, skirts) helps even more. Kevlar soaks up energy and resists tearing better than carbon alone, so you get better real-world toughness without a big weight hit. Layup still matters, but the combination is noticeably more damage-tolerant than a solid laminate of similar weight.
Compared to solid laminates
- Much better stiffness-to-weight
- Lighter for the same rigidity (or a lot stiffer at the same weight)
- Better resistance to buckling and panel flutter
- Easier to make large, complex shapes without stacking on extra plies
Titanium skid blocks
Even well made foamcore carbon doesn’t love smacking the pavement. What do we do? Titanium skid blocks, that’s what. Mount them in the high-wear spots like splitter leading edges, floor edges, side skirts and the titanium takes the scrapes and impacts instead of the composite. It’s tough, relatively light, and wears slowly. Also, COOL SPARKS!! When the skids get chewed up you just replace them and the expensive carbon keeps going. Simple way to protect the part and stretch its life.
Bottom line: foam-core carbon gives you the big stiffness gains and the weight advantage solid laminates struggle to match. Throw in Kevlar where it sees abuse like we do, and titanium skids for the ground strikes, and the package holds up a lot better under actual race conditions.
