Le Mans Car Design...

[SAPPHiRE]

My first try on designing a Le mans car, close top. I've modelled it using Solidworks. All comments are welcomed. Later, i'll analyze the air flow around the body using CosmoFlo.

 

[Danny]

Looks good, the only criticism I can make is that the spoiler looks unwieldly. Perhaps sizing it down a bit?

Other than that though, nice work.👍

 

[Venom800tt]

Neat design, though the wing airfoils seem rather thick

Anyway about the closest thing to a LeMans car I have at the moment is my V350T design, which breaks tons of ACO regulations. For one it has a massive ground effects tunnel like with the old Group C racers. It has a end-plate supported rear wing, which has been banned for several years now. The car has a AWD system, which is due to one of the biggest rule breakers: the turbine engine. The original design for the car came up about 5 years ago, when I got bored one day and decided to design the ultimate "road" car. Not sure how legal it would be in the US though lol
Eventually the design was modified to fit in a competition to design a 550km/h supercar on another website. After that I kept tweaking and refining the design to what is in the pics below. With a few changes it could be made ACO compatible, and someday I will do a version that could possibly meet most ACO regulations.

 

[RACECAR]

Very cool, SAPPHiRE. Is it a Front-engined Prototype?

 

[SAPPHiRE]

@Danachronism : I will try to size it down a bit later.

@Venom : Awesome car u have there. Actually, i try to follow the ACO regulations as closed as possible without breaking even once. U said a massive ground tunnel effect? Did u mean u used a sliding skirt or a suction engine? Anyway, my car is rendered using solidworks built in renderer, and it kinda sucks, maybe i'll try exporting it to 3dsmax and rendered it from there. Another new design is in progress, with open top. About the wing, yeah i thing it's quite thick, but i'll redesign it based on the airflow result, but i'm not sure when. Solidworks is rather painful to redesign an existing model.

@Racecar : It's a mid engined layout actually.

Anyway, this is the preview for my next design. Thx for all the comments.

 

[The359]

If you were following ACO rules, the wing would be highly illegal. You're not allowed two elements like that.

 

[SAPPHiRE]

If you were following ACO rules, the wing would be highly illegal. You're not allowed two elements like that.

Owh, sorry, i miss that part.

 

[RACECAR]

@Racecar : It's a mid engined layout actually.

Well, looking at the rearward greenhouse cab, its design seems more oriented towards a Front-engine layout. If look at the Panoz Esperante GTR-1 and compare you design to it, you'll see what I mean:

 

[The359]

I also believe the rear wing cannot extend beyond the end of the rear diffuser, and the nose can't stick out beyond the front splitter either.

 

[SAPPHiRE]

I also believe the rear wing cannot extend beyond the end of the rear diffuser, and the nose can't stick out beyond the front splitter either.

Ok, the nose need to be gone and i need to lengthen the rear diffuser right? Wow, this gonna take all night.

Thx again the359, plz do correct me again in the future.

@RACECAR : Yeah, i think it's quite the same, i need to redo the cabin so a mid engined can be fitted. Anyway, the red car project will be scrapped after flow studies been done. I'm designing a new one later this week, with much better looking i guess.

Anyway, this is the second design with one of the spoiler's gone and smaller endplate.

 

[Danny]

The spoiler's looking much better.

 

[TwinTurbos94]

Man I wish I had solidworks.....


I've always wanted to make a ACO reg. legal prototype based off the 787b and 962c powered by a VGT-TT diesel V-8.

 

[GilesGuthrie]

Have you dropped the closed cockpit? In your final drawing, it looks like you're got a single-seat rollhoop. For an open car, you need a second one, or for the rollhoop to extend across the whole cockpit width.

Also, I think you could taper the leading edge of the front wheel fairings a little more. Your front looks quite bluff, and I suspect you'd have turbulence between the nose and the cockpit, which would affect rear wing efficiency.

 

[SAPPHiRE]

@GilesGuthrie : Turbulence? U think so? I don't know the result yet, coz i haven't examine it yet, i'm still using solidworks 2005 n it didn't come with cosmoflo, i'm still waiting for solidworks 2008 to arrive (dunno when) and it sure comes with cosmoflo. Anyway thanx for ur thought. If it really induce turbulence, i will tapered it down.

@TwinTurbos94 : Solidworks are quite pricey these day. And it's quite hard actually, take sometime to learn. I'm using solidworks because i studied mechanical engineering, and i used solidworks almost everyday. Just 1 more year and i'm out. And u now what, i suck in drawing or designing cars with pencils... Most of my design are purely based on my imagination in my head, real time...

Anyway, this is my initial try before i know anything about loft and swept.
sucks hard man...

 

[TwinTurbos94]

Thats' cool, I'm going to be majoring in Mech. engineering myself! And yeah I suck at drawing cars too...

 

[SAPPHiRE]

@TwinTurbos94 : All the best to u.

Anyway, this is a new design, using audi r10 as a reference, but not entirely. Still unfinished though. The side panel thumbprint, rear diffuser, bucket seat, stearing and some dull rims will come later, becoz i'm quite tired rite now. The nose is behind front splitter, the front fairing are tapered down and 2 single seat rollhoop. Still trying to cope with ACO though. Correct me if i'm wrong.

 

[RACECAR]

Very good start. Its shaping up quite well. I'm gonna skech up my own and put it up after I'm through with my Daytona Prototype. design.

 

[SAPPHiRE]

Sorry for the late reply, i've been gone for vacation lately, just came back. Just trying to import my Solidworks model into 3dsmax 9, damn this thing is freaking heavy, bear in mind that all of my design are 1:1 scale. Even my 2.3Ghz n 1 GB ram with GF7300 still sucks hard. I've given up 3ds max rendering until i got a new comp. I'm trying to recolored those model with photoshop, maybe in horizontal line view. Anyway, just today i have a new idea about supercar, maybe i'll try modelled it later when i'm finish with my le mans.

@Racecar : Can i see your DP design when it's finished? I'm trying to find the differences between DP and GTP, coz those are somewhat identical, from my eyes at least. Can u give me the link to ACO rules on DP, maybe i'll try modelled for DP in the future.

 

[RACECAR]

@Racecar : Can i see your DP design when it's finished? I'm trying to find the differences between DP and GTP, coz those are somewhat identical, from my eyes at least. Can u give me the link to ACO rules on DP, maybe i'll try modelled for DP in the future.

Sure, I'll show when its completed. And The ACO Has rules for the GTPs while GARRA has rules for the DPs. And here's a link to their rules page where you can download the rules on chassis: Grand Rules

 

[GT Pro]

Awesome stuff there Sapphire and Venom. I wish I could do such things with 3ds max 8 but it seems impossible to use effectively, and the online car design tutorials incredibly difficult to follow for a beginner like me.

Maybe someone could refer to me to a site or similar that specialises in teaching this line of stuff for a beginner?

 

[SAPPHiRE]

Awesome stuff there Sapphire and Venom. I wish I could do such things with 3ds max 8 but it seems impossible to use effectively, and the online car design tutorials incredibly difficult to follow for a beginner like me.

Maybe someone could refer to me to a site or similar that specialises in teaching this line of stuff for a beginner?

Thanx. For me, 3ds max is quite difficult to design a car. Bear in my mind is nearly impossible to design an 1:1 scale car in 3ds max because it needs a lot of raw pc power, at least for me. For starter, try sketching n imagining the design a lot, then u try to follow the design as accurate as u can. As for software, i recommend u to try solidworks, as is far easier to modelled mechanical thingy. Good luck.

@Racecar: Thx for the link, i'll look into the doc later.

 

[Jim Prower]

There is a relatively cheap 3D solid modeler out there, Train Sim Modeler from Abacus. I'm not sure how well it'd work in this case, but is can make rather complex geometries, like those used in Steam Locomotives.

 

[SAPPHiRE]

Oh, forgot to tell u GT Pro, solidworks is indeed expensive, by worth every penny. For low budget, try milkshape 3d. Is a low poly 3d modeller. Or try the one recommended by Jim Power.

 

[TwinTurbos94]

Hey Sapphie, they're starting a F1 in schools program at my school, and we are going to be using solidworks!


I took a CAD class last year and we used MasterCam.But my teacher was also demoing solidworks on his computer. It looks awsome.

 

[Venom800tt]

I use a fairly simple, free, low poly modeling program called Zmodeler 1.07B. It is good enough for me, since I ain't no high poly modeler. I model with the hope of some of my cars being put into games. Oh, I also have 4 other car designs of my own. All equally insane lol



Other than the previously mentioned V350T only the Kestrel (the car in the middle) is based off of LMP designs, though it is more compact than a LMP. The rest are obviously based off of F1 and open wheel designs

 

[TwinTurbos94]

Wow, the car at the end looks something similar to the Design I have in my head...

 

[RACECAR]

I use a fairly simple, free, low poly modeling program called Zmodeler 1.07B. It is good enough for me, since I ain't no high poly modeler. I model with the hope of some of my cars being put into games. Oh, I also have 4 other car designs of my own. All equally insane lol

Some exotic designs, most notibly the Open wheel inspired designs.

Other than the previously mentioned V350T only the Kestrel (the car in the middle) is based off of LMP designs, though it is more compact than a LMP. The rest are obviously based off of F1 and open wheel designs

That name sounds vaguely familiar.

 

[Venom800tt]

Some exotic designs, most notibly the Open wheel inspired designs.


That name sounds vaguely familiar.

lol, well if another car had the same name I didn't know about it

 

[RACECAR]

lol, well if another car had the same name I didn't know about it

Neither would I if that happened I'm kinda wondering if you heard of Ace Combat 5

 

[Venom800tt]

Neither would I if that happened I'm kinda wondering if you heard of Ace Combat 5

Oh yes I have
In fact, that is where I got the name from lol
Not only am I a big car nut but I also love aircraft, especially military ones