Reducing the carbon content of carbon fibre steering wheels, the dichotomy. 

Since 2013 bf1systems have been one of the world’s leading motorsport steering wheel providers, supplying parts into Formula 1, IndyCar, GT3, GT4 as well as to hypercar royalty with the Aston Martin Valkyrie steering wheel coming from Diss.

As part of our continual strive to reduce our carbon footprint, bf1 have been actively involved since 2018 in the reduction of carbon fibre within our steering wheels.

The latest output from this project is the 992.2 Cup steering wheel, which features 33% of its composite material being flax. Flax is a natural fibre that comes from the stem of the flax or linseed plant. Flax fabric has actually been produced for thousands of years and requires approximately ten times less energy to produce per unit weight than carbon fibre. In fact, carbon emissions from its production are often claimed to be negative, owing to the carbon capture during its growth. 

Motorsport is a market where carbon reduction is inherently challenging to realise, so being able to take advantage of the benefits of the long, continuous cellulose fibres inherent to flax, which offer excellent strength and stiffness characteristics, and utilise these in the steering wheel and reduce its carbon content, is an excellent opportunity. 

Often within motorsport, natural fibres are used either in non-structural or semi-structural body parts within motorsport, but through using flax within the fully load bearing steering wheel carcass and front plate, bf1systems are one of the first to use it in a structural component.

The steering wheel is a hybrid of carbon and flax fibres as carbon fibre is still superior in terms of strength when compared to natural fibres, so for the foreseeable future, we won’t see a 100% natural fibre wheel. bf1systems are however continuing to explore future opportunities for further reducing the carbon footprint of our steering wheels.