NCSU Supercar – Wood You Believe

A car is being designed and built by a group of NCSU (North Carolina State University) students lead by a 27 year old graduate student by the name of Joe Harmon. But this is no ordinary car. It is billed as a supercar much like Lamborghini or Porsche, but it is more than that. This is a wooden car that is designed to go 240 miles per hour.

It is slated to weigh in at under 2500 pounds and use a twin supercharged V8 engine derived from GM’s Northstar. The expectation is to be able to accelerate from zero to sixty in 3 seconds and still achieve 20 miles per gallon.

Here are some 3D renderings as well as a shot of the car in the process of being put together. It should be an amazing vehicle. Thanks Shep for the heads up on this project.

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jimsgarage

Categories: Automobiles, Car Stuff, Cars, Life and Cars, Sports Cars

9 responses to “NCSU Supercar – Wood You Believe”

Robert

March 24, 2008 at 7:59 pm

Wow, that is awesome, but it seems pretty unsafe. Maybe I’m wrong. It seems likely that it will be kep in a museum or show room, so I guess safety may not be a major concern.

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Esteban

March 25, 2008 at 6:53 am

Yeah, I was wondering what would happen if you crashed a wooden car at 240mph… You might be able to do a pretty nice BBQ with the wreckage I guess! 😉

Jim, what drove this guys to build it on wood? Is it some sort of proof of concept?

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Tim

March 25, 2008 at 3:14 pm

You guys read my mind – crash safety…

Maybe Jim’s Garage should do an interview? I can assist with a VLOG if you’d like…

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howard

March 25, 2008 at 5:39 pm

DOES IT COME WITH TERMITE PROTECTION?

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Noel

March 26, 2008 at 5:50 am

This is the 21st century Morgan? They had wooden frames but the body was steel.

This is a nice exercise in design and creativity, but that’s about it. Still, it looks pretty cool.

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Jim’s sister

March 26, 2008 at 9:02 pm

An interesting project, but what’s out there that’s a viable response to gas at $4.00 a gallon and a recession in full swing? (And when I was in Acapulco this winter, it was $8.00US a gallon there – so all the taxies were VW bugs.)

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fictorealidad

March 27, 2008 at 6:34 pm

Jim’s Sister, you can always burn the car for heat once gas hits over 10 bucks / gallon… 🙂

They should market that as a side advantage!

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markmcchesney

April 9, 2008 at 10:42 pm

I am amazed. The design work is fantastic for such an unusual project.

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Motor Talk – Page 2

August 8, 2014 at 3:16 pm

[…] being put together. It should be an amazing vehicle. Thanks Shep for the heads up on this project. source Okay … that's awesome! .. and beautiful … but is it safe? What happens when you hit a pole […]

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