bellett.net

It's about time we had a thread on 'other cars' that don't actually exist. Thought this may be of interest to you guys...?

I’ve been working with a chap on a car body design (existing body unfortunately, so only small details) in exchange for fibreglass work on the Bond. Whilst it’s been tools down over Summer (too hot to work on my Bond or his car) I have entered a couple car design competitions, this one online via CAD site GrabCAD:

http://grabcad.com/library/500g-hai-supercar

Based on a chassis design supplied by GrabCAD, and featuring a rear mounted hi-po Corvette 6.3-Litre V8 engine, I quickly whipped up the design in a couple days and spent 2 weeks modelling it in SolidWorks. I’m an Industrial Designer by profession, but rarely get the chance to do this level of surfacing work. So whilst the design has grown off me, and I have no illusions of taking out any prizes, I’m so chuffed I actually got it finished I thought I’d let half the world know.

Now, to convince my customer he needs an all new custom body design for his project...is not easy. Anyone else keen on a custom sportscar design?

Hope you guys like it, any feedback much appreciated as I intend to update it soon.

Cheerio,
Duane

I for one, love it !

glenn

looks good, the rear window with the long rear deck took me back a little to start with but after looking through the whole set of pictures it has grown on me, i love the front and rear styling looks nice and aggresive!
When do you go into production?

Thanks guys! I'll have to just on Kickstart and see if I can raise a couple hundred thousand to refurbish my Pennington micro-factory! Hmmm...on second thoughts, life would be easier if I just left it on the computer. Cheaper to insure.

Yes, I really wanted to create a more classic coupe shape, modern supercars appear too slab sided and heavy for the most part. However, the proportions of the chassis left me with a long and high tail to try cover, without a fastback design it probably appears longer than it really is. Visibility was flagged as a design issue, so I addressed this with the coupe profile.

I tried not to cave in to the current trend of sharp edges defining every curve of the body work, so the shape would be less obvious, maybe a tad mysterious or surprising. However, this obviously made the styling appear a little dated...I don't think I'm good enough to try 'break the mould' of current design trends just at the moment, haha.

Anyways, ta!

Nice design.

Some ideas, get rid of the red bit on the engine cover/boot.
Keep the black running through from the bonnet.

Also for aerodynamics you may want to add a small gurney strip to the back just on the red bits as seen from the rear.
Or maybe a wing up and across from one red rear piece to the other leaving the black gap underneath.

also how about adding some red flashes to the wheels or red calipers

Can you surface the black sections in carbon fibre ?

Cheers
Rob

1. You're asking people who intentionally sought out and purchased an Isuzu vehicle, for an opinion about design. Which would seem a pretty big contradiction, if you are looking for an opinion that reflects tat of the majority.

2. I supposedly have some design education. But found that my personal taste overrides my education, and I tend to like popular things that I am supposed to deplore, and unpopular things that I am supposed to know better than to like. Putting me into the group with the people in #1.

Add to that my general dissatisfaction with nearly everything that came out of the auto industry in the last 20 years.

So disregard my comments.

The car design:
It looks neat. It looks modern. It has the folded over or overlapping panel theme.
It's a rear engine car, with a huge grille in the front, but the engine is in the back. Two things that don't seem to agree.
The grille and overlapping panels look like an attempt to enclose a scramjet engine into a car body. A neat visual theme, but there's no jet engine in it, and the engine is in the back.
The side view looks very plain compared to the front and back. It looks like the last generation MR2/MRS with the understated profile. Possibly it needs side lighting in the modelling program to show the huge side air intake that is lost in the shadow. Or something sticking up on the hood and trunk lid to give it a more menacing feeling like the front view has.

All of which means that it will be extremely popular with the general public and win multiple awards.

Thanks Rob and JT!

I hear ya re: the red bit at the back...I tried black, but it just vanished into a visual void, even though it seemed to make sense to continue the theme. I think the issue lays in the fact that the shape of the red bit just doesn't look quite right. Carbon fibre would be awesome, it's no less expensive than paint, plastic or gold in my CAD package!

The car has red painted wheel hubs and Brembo calibres, my renders are too dark.

JT, as you know I would be asking for opinions from Isuzu owners specifically because of their equisite taste in automobile design!

"The grille and overlapping panels look like an attempt to enclose a scramjet engine into a car body"

EXACTLY! I have been struggling to describe what I was trying to achieve, you've put it perfectly. Yes, the grille at the front is massive, too big, but late in the contest I didn't have time to change it (or add the rear wing, or mirrors or front ducting). Yes, the engine is in the rear, the radiator is in the front, rear ducts are for an oil cooler (left) and for show (right). There should be two exit ducts in front of the windscreen, again, too late to add them before the contest ended. The small ducts either side of the grille are for brake cooling.

Agree with you re: side profile, from dead front 3/4 view it also looks too messy, so there a bit of work to do on the 'strake' (I guess is what you call it, hipline or h-point is probably the industry term). I would like to finish it properly, but just releived to have completed it to this stage so far. Of course, the idea is always to create something unique, but not unique and crap, so this is all valuable input guys, thanks a lot!!!

I'm far too old and not as enveloped in current automotive trends to head back to uni, study and become a car designer these days, but I would like to get my talents up to scratch enough to become somewhat of a 'guerilla automotive designer', working on limited production cars with firms or individuals that would not have an in-house designer, nor contract a design firm. The 20-something guru's that come out of Transportation Masters courses these days are phenomenally talented in conceptualization, sketching and presentation, but they haven't had 20 years exposure to manufacturing like me, nor are they likely to get it any time soon (this side of a Renault internship), as the nuts and bolts are invariably done in China these days.

Duane