Carbon Fiber: The Performance World's Go-Fast Gold

What Is Carbon Fiber and Why Is It Today’s Hottest Performance Automotive Material?

- Noah Thanos

Formula 1 and American muscle are two automotive genres that don’t usually meet. F1 cars are high revving, mid-engine toothpicks on wheels, while muscle cars are big V8 coupes with the aerodynamic qualities of a brick. But hey, who cares when you have torque? Despite their lack of similarities, SpeedKore Performance Group decided that Detroit could learn a thing or two from Monaco.

Since 2015, SpeedKore has been sending icons of American muscle to finishing school, outfitting their various modern muscle cars with high-performance powertrains, custom-designed frames, and, most notably, famous F1 lightweight technology in the form of carbon fiber. Their most recent creation, a 1970 Dodge Charger dubbed Hellraiser, is built entirely of the stuff. It dropped 600 pounds from its original curb weight while gaining about 600 horsepower by way of a 426 Hellephant V8 from Mopar.

We were curious about SpeedKore’s carbon-fiber process, so we dropped in at the company’s Grafton, Wisconsin, workshop to learn more about this go fast gold.

A Brief History of Carbon Fiber

Carbon fiber made its automotive debut on the 1981 McLaren MP4/1 Formula 1 car. Not long after, it trickled down into the highest tier of on-road performance with supercars like the Jaguar XJR-15 and McLaren F1. The added stiffness and reduced weight of carbon made it the perfect material for motorsports applications.