Czinger debuts fully additive brake system on the new 21C Spyder

Czinger Vehicles has introduced BrakeNode, a brake assembly described as the first production system to combine a car’s brake caliper, suspension upright and hydraulic fluid passages into a single, topology-optimized, additively manufactured structure. It debuted on the 21C Spyder, the third variant of Czinger’s 21C hypercar platform, which was unveiled in Los Angeles at the end of last week.

Czinger calculates a 30% gain in comparison to a conventional brake structure, for both unsprung mass reduction and stiffness, and claims stopping distance has been cut by as much as 15%. 

Hollow, load-bearing sections made up as much as 37% of the part’s material and running hydraulic fluid through internal channels eliminated the exposed brake lines found on a typical setup.

Materials and testing

BrakeNode was additively manufactured from Z301, an aluminum alloy Czinger developed in-house, and the company said it pressure-tested the part to 500 bar — about eight times what the brake system sees in normal driving. Front calipers used titanium pistons carried over from Formula 1 applications, which Czinger said kept brake fluid roughly 15% cooler than stainless-steel pistons would; rear calipers used aluminum pistons to save weight instead. 

The assembly clamped carbon-ceramic rotors measuring 16.1 inches (410 millimeters) at the front and 15.3in (390mm) at the rear, which comes as standard on the 21C Spyder and is being offered as a retrofit for existing 21C HDF and VMax owners.

Additive manufacturing

Czinger said 23% of the 21C Spyder was produced using additive manufacturing processes developed by its sister company, Divergent Technologies. One such part, MegaNode, folds the steering rack, electric motor housings, front suspension components and front crash structure into a single piece, saving 25% of the weight those components carried when built individually. 

Czinger also printed the car’s suspension control arms and its steering rack housing, and said the gearbox casing — also additively manufactured and topology-optimized — was the first of its kind fitted to a production car.

Priced from $2.75 million, the 21C Spyder joins the 21C HDF and 21C VMax as the platform’s third variant, with a removable carbon-fiber roof and a 1,250-hp hybrid powertrain. Production has been limited to 30 units, hand-assembled at Czinger’s Area 21 facility in Los Angeles.

“We started Czinger to build the next era of automotive performance. Not a faster version of cars that have come before, but something fundamentally new,” said Lukas Czinger, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Czinger Vehicles.

“A hypercar designed from the ground up and built using technology the automotive world had never seen. That car is the 21C, and with 21C Spyder, we’re going even further, amplifying the driver’s connection to the car, debuting world-first technology, and introducing an all-new cockpit experience. The 21C Spyder delivers a drive with no equal.”