Splinter

Joe Harmon's Wooden Supercar

Oookay, Joe, you're going to be alright, just sit down and take a deep breath. Everything is going to be alright.

Fortunately no one offered Joe this bit of advice when he started on this project, or if they did he ignored them.

"We aren't really all about mission statements around here; too often, they are phony and superfluous. That said, here is ours. We are building a high-performance, mid-engined super car from wood composites as a graduate project at North Carolina State University. Wood will be used where ever 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 endeavor in which we are simply trying to explore materials, learn, teach, share ideas, and stimulate creativity."

H/T to Marc. Go to Joe's website for some stunning color pictures, or visit his blog for his progress reports. This B&W picture has the Splinter in the foreground and a de Havilland Mosquito, a British WW2 era aircraft made of wood, in the background. I put up a post about another WWII era British aircraft made at least partly of wood on Pergelator Lite.

Update July 2016. Replaced missing picture and revised last paragraph.