Dec 18 2007Wood Supercar Concept Makes Me Wonder
The Splinter supercar concept comes to us as a graduate project from some students at NC State (who undoubtedly failed). As you can see it's wooden (like this car). In theory the car would be a "600-hp, 2,500-pound goer with wood used for the chassis, body, and parts of the suspension and wheels" that's "powered by a twin-supercharged Northstar V8." It would allegedly be capable of doing 190 MPH. What a concept! Very clever students, but next time try to think outside the box -- wood is such an obvious choice for car materials. I've developed a conceptual supercar called the Candyvan. It's made out of candy. It's got a Butterfinger engine, Hershey Bar tires, Jolly Rancher windows and you steer with a giant lollipop. It's capable of doing 220 MPH on the streets of Candyland and handles turns like those found in the Marshmallow Mountains like a dream. Now that's a concept car. If it's make-believe, go all out.
A bunch more pictures after the jump, including one of the car shooting lasers out of its brake lights.
Grad students create Splinter, the wooden supercar [autoblog]
thanks to Paul, who enjoys fast cars and beautiful women, for the tip
Reader Comments
1. The Moat - December 18, 2007 11:36 AM
Right. 'Cause my car and I don't already catch enough shit for the 10 mpg we get. Why don't we kill a few trees in the manufacutirng process, too, and see what kind of rat's nest of hippies we can stir up.
2. SuperFrank - December 18, 2007 11:45 AM
Dude, that's Dirksen's dream car. I know the man loves his candy. The chocolate river, with the strawberry mountains and the vanilla snow. Or something like that.
3. sp - December 18, 2007 12:16 PM
Candyvan huh? Just like the Skoda Fabia advertisement.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLv77vwD2ts
4. flareback - December 18, 2007 12:17 PM
That could make for some cool hollywood effects. Drive through a tanker truck and get set on fire and when you finally get to the ballroom to dance with your princess your car is a smoldering pile of charcoal.
5. Smartass - December 18, 2007 1:37 PM
Looks Cheap.
I'll stick with my car made entirely out of snow leopard noses.
They are sooooo cute.
6. blpressure - December 18, 2007 1:45 PM
How close to that 190 MPH could you get before the fire starts?
7. CLICK HERE - December 18, 2007 2:29 PM
Interesting, but I don't think this is the future...
8. Angel Mass - December 18, 2007 2:45 PM
Oh great! So now its not enough to pollute the air and raise the levels of contamination with the automobiles, but also lets cut more trees to make more cars!!
9. The Moat - December 18, 2007 3:28 PM
@8
See, people? I told you it wouldn't take long for the damned hippies to show up.
10. Anexio - December 18, 2007 5:52 PM
#9 - Thanks for the funniest comment of the day on all the superfish boards!
11. Josh - December 18, 2007 7:00 PM
Make hippies happy. Build cars from hemp. Fuel them with patchouli oil.
12. guate6 - December 18, 2007 10:20 PM
It's a concept car...I didn't see that they were serious about making this into a production car. A lot of concept cars have only one made model. It looks neat though.
13. Michael Browb - December 18, 2007 10:43 PM
#4 I want whatever drugs your on.
14. Joe - December 19, 2007 11:43 AM
>.<
you do know that the first car bodies ever were mostly made from wood right?
metal is cheaper, lighter, and stronger (usually all 3) than wood, so it was pretty quickly replaced as the primary body material.
good try at making fun of them though...
http://www.ausbcomp.com/~bbott/cars/carhist.htm (first car link)
15. Rallen - December 19, 2007 9:57 PM
If you bothered to check out the construction website, I think you might see that the design and construction are actually very impressive, and safe. Marcos made quite a few race cars with monocoque chassis made of wood. Just like these guys. Only he used Aluminum for the suspension and bodywork. Veneer plywood construction was also how some of the fastest prop fighter planes were built. The only reason the aircraft industry moved to metal was because, like the auto industry found, it needed skilled woodworkers and a longer period of time for each aircraft. They were lighter and stronger, but more expensive. Anyone remember 'The Spruce Goose'?
16. bleh - December 20, 2007 7:25 AM
how would you clean it?
17. Max - February 20, 2008 1:48 PM
Thank God I'm not a student at NC state. It is unfathomable that someone, much less a group, would do this for a capstone project. It's a joke project and it looks like it.
Get this thing moving at the hypothetical 190mph and it'll look like a shit streak on your old man's underwear.
18. josh - August 26, 2008 7:55 AM
not first!
19. jared - September 4, 2008 10:10 AM
i think this cars got chance i saw the show last night and its plausible
20. unknown - October 21, 2008 12:44 PM
hey. I'll rather stick with my lamborghini and ferrari
21. JSF - October 23, 2008 12:35 AM
--
#1, #4 - #8, and #17, lighten up you jackasses. It's not like there's any shortage of cedar and cherry wood. Wood is a renewable resource you earth worshiping dopers.
22. kelso - November 21, 2008 3:41 PM
YAAYYY!!! Go Lamborghini, You destroy that environment to the best of your ability, and i'll do my bit by buying one of your cars, and some nice american muscle to go with it!! =D
why should i care if the ozone layer is f***ed? its makin it nice and sunny for me, and im not gonna be here for it to freeze up...perfect =]
23. kyle - January 6, 2009 12:49 PM
for your information, this concept was built and tested, and is environmental, though it uses wood, its a renewable resource that can easily be grown, its biodegradable, so as it decomposes it leaves little to no effect on the environment, your piece o shit honda's steel, aluminum, and fiberglass will last forever in the dump its headed to... and i dont think that a college project built entirely by hand, with custom made tool, featured in countless magazines and television shows would get a failing grade, unless the professor died while grading it and his pen slipped.
24. Ray - February 15, 2009 2:46 PM
Kyle is right it's a great project done with the original composite fiber that is easily renewable and takes a tiny amount hydrocarbons to prepare it .
25. MCoop - April 24, 2009 12:23 AM
esa wea de ponerle motor y chasis se la dejo a los ingenieros... me preocuparia mar po r el concepto. a demas parece un lambo o un coening y wea...... ya saen casa de herrero, cuchillo de palo
26. Quidditas - a Frank Costin Fan - May 15, 2009 2:23 PM
To all you ignorant phillistines out there. Frank Costin designed the first wooden Marcos, Mar(sh)Cos(tin), better know as the "Ugly Duckling". This 1, 000 lb duckkling would do 0-60 in 11 secs with a top speed of 110 mph from a lowly 900cc Ford 105E. Jackie Stewart cut his racing teeth on it, being virtually unbeatable.He also designed the Costin Amigo which weighted 1 450lbs used a Vauxhaul Victor 2,0 L engine (less than 100 bhp), 0-60 in 7.5 secs, top speed 137 mph @ 30 mpg (UK) . He also designed the Protos Formla 2 car and it too was a plywood monocoque. He also penned the Vanwall formula 1 racer that won the championship in 1958. The concept of a wooden monocoque that can achieve 200 mph is not absurd but entirely plausible - Costin would have done if he had wanted to. Wood, Frank said, "is God's own plastic". By the time you read this, this car has been completed and probably been tested.