When the Richard Petty Driving Experience Needed Quality Welds to Ensure the Safety of Their Customers, They Chose ESAB Equipment.

The Richard Petty Driving Experience gave more than 110,000 people last year a chance to experience what it feels like to drive or ride in  a NASCAR stock car on an authentic motor speedway at over 20 locations including the Charlotte Motor Speedway in Charlotte, North Carolina, one of the locations where the experience is offered. The “experience” can range from a three-lap ride in the passenger seat to a 40-lap race as a driver to a complete race experience including participation in the pit crew.

Circling the track at speeds up to 165 mph requires a car you can trust. RPDE students use custom-built stock cars built by the Richard Petty Driving Experience Fabrication Department. Welding and cutting are essential to creating a safe, reliable and fast stock car, from cutting special racing alloys to hand fitting and jig welding each part on the 12 to 15 cars they build each year. The general manager and his crew take three weeks to fabricate each car, from assembling the mechanical components to fitting the fiberglass body (either a Monte Carlo or Grand Prix).

The RPDE Fabrication Department chose ESAB as their supplier of welding and cutting equipment and filler metals because they knew they could rely on ESAB quality and reliability. The shop uses an ESAB Migmaster 250 welding machine and ESAB filler metals to weld the chassis, roll cage assembly and most of the suspension parts on the car. The Migmaster 250 and MultiMaster 260 are also used to build support equipment for the shop and track. All of thefixtures and jigs are built with the Migmaster, Each part is hand-fitted and jig-welded, so they keep the Migmasters busy.”

The fabrication crew uses Heliarc 252 power sources on steel suspension parts and aluminum components such as oil pans, tanks and surge tanks because the Heliarc machines can be used for both Tig and stick welding and switch easily between modes.

For cutting, RPDE Fabrication relies on three Powercut 500s and one Powercut 1000 to plasma cut fixtures, brackets and mounts and for repair on damaged cars. In addition, the crew uses an ESAB Prest-O-Lite Precision Master oxyfuel outfit to cut off old or worn suspension parts, brackets and fixtures from engines, chassis, and exhaust and suspension systems. This outfit is also used to heat car parts to shift them in specific directions to correct problems or improve performance.

Altogether, the fabrication department uses eight Migmaster 250s, one Migmaster 251, one MultiMaster 260, two Heliarc 250s, three Heliarc 252s, one Heliarc 352, three Powercut 500s, one Powercut 1000, three MetalMaster oxyfuel outfits, three Precision Master oxyfuel outfits and one E Master oxyfuel outfit.

The quality of the welds is crucial because it contributes to the safety of their customers. ESAB is a lot like Richard Petty and the RPDE. They all take pride in their work.