Building an electric racing car

Step 6 The body

We wanted a racing car lookalike, a light body, and a gesture towards aerodynamics.

Our body is made from paper, laminated with wood glue this dries to almost wood stiffness with little weight. getting a good finish however has proved difficult and we will look at a thin fiber glass alternative.

The general shape works well but the top cover should be closer to the driver with a small aero screen and the rear should be rounded to provide a smooth exit path for the air flowing over the body.

Comments

[David Loll]

You could use a trick to gain aerodynamics the way wheelchair raceing pilots do, they use 2"wide packaging tape. Make some formers out of the same foam you are now using and tape in two or three layers to cover the body.pull it tight and keep it smooth, you can get some complex shapes very easily. Another consideration would be to use three wheels instead of four. with your CG that close to the ground tipping shouldn't be a problem,in that conifguration you would loose 1 wheel 2 bearings 1 brake and put the drive wheel in the middle of the car, and contouring the tail would be easier. Those are thoughts for consideration looks as though you and the kids are having fun.Keep up the good work with the kids.

[garageprinter]

You may want to try using Superkote or something similar for your "skin". It's used for model airplanes and gets heat shrunk over your frame so it's nice and smooth. The UK has a rich heritage of skin on frame aircraft, from the Spitfire to the Mosquito. Reach back into history and use it for the future.

[rickharris]

thanks for your comment and suggestion. interestingly we had a meeting of the build team to discuss what we had learned from our first real race and the suggestion was made to re-body the car using such a film, other perhaps less costly possibilities were ripstop nylon over a bamboo frame and or perhaps doped cotton such as on fabric covered aircraft. A little research shows these to be covered in dacron - have to find out the price. Could well be a possibility - if so I will add to this instructable. Thanks

[thrudd]

You might want to look at what was used for the various long haul and human powered vehicles and aircraft. (makes a great research project for the students - historical strength weight compromises, etc) Or to get rid of the framing all together and go pure monocoque. This is the model car builders favourite by vacuum forming the body shells in one piece, though something the size you are working with it may be best to make it up from discrete sub panels / sections.

[rickharris]

They tend to use fairly exotic materials that cast the earth. Whereas this isn't necessarily cheap we don't have an endless budget.