At the Essen Motor Show 2015, there was a special supercar debut that was unlike any other. You see, this supercar is made of wood.
Called “Splinter,” designed by Joe Harmon, this car has a body and chassis that is built almost entirely of wooden composites. This includes woven strips of cherry veneer with a balsa core for the body and a laminated wood veneer monocoque. While it may be odd to see a car made of wood when there are materials like carbon fiber being used, you can’t deny that the woodwork and design of this car is gorgeous.
Being a supercar, you’d expect there to be some decent power being sent to the wheels. His website states that the included small-block 7.0-liter V8 engine will produce up to 700 bhp, definitely a good amount of power for a wooden supercar. This engine is placed in a mid-engine layout, with rear-wheel drive.
The specification sheet for the car tells us of the background for the car, saying it started as a graduate project at North Carolina State University. Harmon then spent roughly five years building the car, with the goal of using wood in every possible application. He hopes that this will “lead to new ideas and perceptions of wood.”
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(Source: JoeHarmonDesign.com)
