A new car design! and......an old car design.

[Bill R.]

Hello Everyone! I'm posting some renderings of my car. Thought id put it out there in the court of public opinion. So far I have 396 cubic feet of styrofoam, a G5052 transaxle, Rhino 3d (Cad Program) and a dream. Just like the rest of you! Im looking forward to your comments and criticisms. Hope you enjoy them.

[Lynn Erickson]

Nice looking car. is it going to be for racing or street.

[Jack]

Nice renderings Bill, where in Florida? Have my SL-C in Palm Bay/Melbourne area.

[Evan]

Its neat. Looks like a mix between a Mosler or how ever you spell it and a Porsche 917. (rear end)

[Bill R.]

Thanks Lynn! Im going to make it for both the street and the strip. The only obstacle I can see at this point is getting a DOT windshield. They're EXPENSIVE. Might have a way around that though. Namely, make it a spyder, like an Ultima. I believe they have a plexiglass wrap-around windscreen. Not even enough to keep the bugs out of your teeth, but I think it would be more thrilling that way anyhow.

[Simon]

Why not find a screen that is as close as possible and see if the shape of the car can be slightly adapted to fit?

[Lynn Erickson]

Originally Posted by billium01

Thanks Lynn! Im going to make it for both the street and the strip. The only obstacle I can see at this point is getting a DOT windshield. They're EXPENSIVE. Might have a way around that though. Namely, make it a spyder, like an Ultima. I believe they have a plexiglass wrap-around windscreen. Not even enough to keep the bugs out of your teeth, but I think it would be more thrilling that way anyhow.

The windshield has been a problem on my new design also. I am looking at the Lotus Elise or MR2 as possibles. the MR2 is a bit wider but not as tall. the elise is a little rounder. the mr2 windshield is a lot cheaper then the Lotus

[Jac Mac]

Have you considered the rear glass out of a small japanese coupe such as this 89 Honda integra coupe. Not sure about the DOT approval in a front application, but there may be other hatchs that could work, If nothing else the screen heater & wiper mounts are taken care of! Take a stroll thru a car park at the local shopping mall, just dont get arrested.

[Dazza]

IMO slightly rounding the air intakes at the back (not so angular), but being fair, Wow, live the dream

[Lynn Erickson]

Originally Posted by jac mac

Have you considered the rear glass out of a small japanese coupe such as this 89 Honda integra coupe. Not sure about the DOT approval in a front application, but there may be other hatchs that could work, If nothing else the screen heater & wiper mounts are taken care of! Take a stroll thru a car park at the local shopping mall, just dont get arrested.

Front glass is laminated glass. most rear and side glass is tempered. it shatters into a thousand pieces
Laminated breaks and stays stuck together by the plastic sheet that is laminated between the inner and outer glass panels.

[Jimmy P]

I see a lot of 917 in your drawings. Which, IMHO is not a bad thing at all. Your design might be what a modern 917 would look like. As for the windshield Fran Hall might offer some insight to getting one that would fit your needs.

[Fran Hall RCR]

Bill and I chatted about glass a few months ago.....custom glass is expensive and can be a long and painful process.

[Al Wohlstrom]

The windshield doesn't look that far off from an SLC, why not adapt that?

[Fran Hall RCR]

Its actually closer to the 917...but we did talk about T70 glass also.

[Bill R.]

Yes Sir I have always been a big fan of the 917, but when i first started i was drawing a lot from a Porsche 908/3. I love its clean uninterupted lines. The back is definitely a tribute to the 917. I have thought of the car many times as a more modern looking tribute. Modern, not from an aerodynamics perspective but modern because its going to use a water cooled engine. Which im sure porsche would definetly be guilty of using today, if they recreated the 917.

[Jack]

Hey Bill, any thoughts on how you will proceed on the construction? You'll have to incorporate the selected windshield into the design from the beginning. I have cut sections through a CAD model and plotted them full size to be cut from plywood. Add some longitudinals (centerline is a must) and erect them on a level building table & go for it!

[John M]

I like the overall shape, but i think if you added some roundness to the sides of the car and flared out the rear a little bit; adding that coke bottle shape, would really add to the design.

[Bill R.]

Yes Molleur, thats exactly what i intend to do to construct the body. I worked with a fellow in Tampa building his fiberglass body. He had his foam cut on a five axis cnc machine for around 9000 dollars. His shape is quite a bit more complex than mine though, with many compound curves. I plan on having templates made on a cnc router, which most professional sign making shops have. Found one in Tampa. They only charge around 100 per hour. CNC will zip out the egg crate in very little time indeed. I'll fill in the gaps between the egg crate with my 396 cubic feet of styrofoam. BTW which i drove 1200 miles one way to pick up! Got a great deal on ebay. I found some good info on the web too. Link posted below. I totally agree about the windscreen. I think i'll go with a polycarbonate. I can make a mold directly off the buck and have it constucted. I'll have the windscreen made then router out the frame using the finished windscreen as a template then construct the mold for the frame from there. Everything should fit really well. Or i might just make it spyder. I like the idea of having the wind in your face.

Sidebar: To respond to John's suggestion about increasing the flare at the rear of the car. Its actually flared quite a bit from front to back. Its just hard to see it from the perspective from the renders i posted. Heres another view with the spyder idea incorporated also.




DDR Motorsport - Picture Process

[Jack]

Have visited DDR and spent an afternoon with Diego. At that time only the proto blue car was nearing completion. A bunch of R&D remained. Very nice body and glass work though. Then I looked at some GTM's before I ordered my SL-C.

Nearly built my own 5 axis machine a couple of years ago but the expense of the available controllers made it too costly for me. Have two outfits locally than can mill 30ft x 15ft x 12ft on their routers. About $1200.00 per linear foot not counting setup time. That's why I did it your way! Body buck for Maserati A6GCS, 1947.

[Bill R.]

That Maserati is a beautiful car