the splinter

with a header like that you might well prepare yourself for a tale of unmitigated and excruciating pain far out of proportion to the tiny little piece of wood embedded in some fleshy little chunk of my finger or toe.



i'm happy to say that in fact i'm talking about a car. a car? named the splinter? well yes folks, and i'm not sure that a marketing company executive might not wriggle uncomfortably when presented with the challenge of moving a few of these strangely named vehicles into public awareness, but there it is - a wooden car named "the splinter".

so what's the idea here? well joe harmon eschews mission statements so here's a project description instead:

we are building a high-performance, mid-engined supercar from wood composites as a graduate project at north carolina state university. wood will be used wherever possible, including the chassis, body, and large percentages of the suspension components and wheels. the car has a target weight of 2500lbs and a power goal of over 600 horsepower. we aren't trying to sell anything; we aren't trying to save the world, and we aren't advocating that everyone should drive a wooden car. this project is a scholastic endeavour in which are simply trying to explore materials, learn, teach, share ideas, and stimulate creativity.

let's take a look at this vehicle.





i think you'll agree that as supercars go, it's a lovely design and certainly the textural features of the wood lend it a unique edge. if you'd like to see video and live webcam of this car being built then visit joe harmon design!