3D Scanning Supercharges the Design and Development of Supersports Car, GTA Spano

Founded in 1994, Spania GTA has grown into a Spanish and European motorsport powerhouse, designing cars that have participated in esteemed championship races, such as the European F3 Open, Superleague Formula and International Open GT.

The company is also on a mission to build a limited-production supersports, the Spania GTA Spano, with unmatched handling, advanced technology and innovative aesthetics. Only 99 models of this supersports car will be built to order, and several world patents have already been awarded to Spania GTA.

3D measurement challenges in building a high-performance supercar

For years, Spania GTA used manual tools, such as calipers, to acquire measurements of its supersports car’s components. In addition, the company had to rely on the CAD information provided by third-party part suppliers for the vehicle’s complete 3D designs. Oftentimes, it was difficult to obtain the CAD files and confirm that the parts received adhered to the original specs.

Issues arose on several levels. For one, R&D teams had problems verifying the dimensions of large composite parts for the chassis at reception; any non-detectable error ended up bogging down development and ramping up unforeseen costs.

Also, the design team often struggled with integrating components, without any 3D information, into the vehicle’s CAD model, which slowed down the design process and increased room for error.

Creaform’s innovative 3D scanning solutions speed up R&D timelines

Spania GTA turned to Nuevas Técnicas de Automatización Industrial S.L. (Nutai) to recommend more modern and efficient technologies and approaches for carrying out 3D measurements on the GTA Spano. As a company that specializes in advanced industrial automation, Nutai is a leading integrator of automated quality control solutions in Spain.

The experts at Nutai immediately identified a perfect fit with Creaform’s portable 3D measurement solutions: the MetraSCAN 3D optical CMM and HandySCAN 3D scanner. The team at Spania GTA started testing both systems to determine their performance in terms of their data acquisition speed and accuracy for large and small parts as well as components with varying degrees of complexity and surface finishes.

Thanks to their portability and robustness, both the MetraSCAN 3D and HandySCAN 3D were able to scan Spania GTA Spano’s parts and sub-assemblies in a variety of different environments, whether indoors or outdoors, offering designers and quality control specialists maximum versatility.

The 3D measurement solutions were also assessed to determine how fast and precise they were for reverse engineering; operators were able to easily scan incoming parts from third-party suppliers, upon reception, to complete the critical CAD models they needed.

Specific applications tested with the MetraSCAN 3D and HandySCAN 3D

Along with Nutai, GTA carried out additional extensive testing for different inspection needs including:

• Dimensional control of the central and rear sub-chassis
• Reverse engineering of the engine to obtain a CAD model
• Dimensional control of small sub-parts located near the car’s wheels
• General scanning of the overall GTA Spano to confirm that Creaform’s portable optical CMM could scan very large objects with sophisticated geometries and highly reflective surfaces
• Pinpointing sub-par tolerances and dimensional errors in the workflow as a prototype was built

Spania GTA was also impressed with the solutions’ simplicity, which meant users of different skill levels could complete the scanning processes without the support of an experienced metrologist.

The pioneers in supersports cars are looking forward to leveraging the performance of the MetraSCAN 3D and HandySCAN 3D to accelerate their development cycles and design future vehicles—with limitless possibilities!