Conventional carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (CFRPs) are highly susceptible to low-velocity impact (LVI) from sharp objects due to their inherent brittleness. To address this critical limitation, an innovative shear thickening gel (STG) was incorporated into CFRP through a bespoke fabrication process, resulting in the STG-applied CFRP (SACFRP). LVI tests revealed that specific impact strength of the SACFRP increased significantly by 267 % compared to the reference CFRP fabricated with the same carbon fibers and epoxy resin but without STG. Moreover, the SACFRP achieved the specific impact strength of 202 J m/kg, substantially exceeding that of other representative carbon or glass fiber-reinforced polymers. Damage analysis and Timoshenko's theoretical study highlighted distinct failure mechanisms between the SACFRP that exhibited thin-plate elastic flexure and the CFRP that experienced brittle impact failure under LVI. Additionally, ultrasonic C-scan results demonstrated enlarged effective impact-resistant area in the SACFRP due to the viscoelasticity and shear-thickening behavior of the integrated STG, facilitating energy dissipation and reducing brittleness of the composite. In summary, this work presents the manufacturing method of an innovative SACFRP composite and demonstrates its outstanding impact resistance, marking the significant advancement in development of high-performance composites.