Here is the concept, in two parts.
1. You start with four wheels, it is defined as a
rectangular box once the wheels are enclosed. The front, nose or bow deflects the air mostly over the top.
2. The cabin greenhouse or canopy, known simply as the area above the wheel-wells can be closer to the idea aerodynamic shape;
the teardrop.
1 + 2 = 3 seater in this case.
Back on 11/11/11, I posted in this forum a red pen sketch of this 2-body part concept, I forget the reason. That sketch is included in the "Inspiration Board" shown below.
As kids, my brother and I used to race our slot cars, he had a Jackie Stewart 1971 L&M Lola, I think I raced a Porsche 917 or Ford GT40. anyway, the blunt simple lines of the L&M car left some kind of impression on me, even though it was the ugly duckling of the bunch.
This concept has little to do with "pretty", and everything to do with "simple". Hopefully aerodynamic forms have their own sort of beauty.
I built a less than perfect study model to help get the feel for this concept car, it is real 3D. There are some differences between the sketch on grid paper and what I built. I like to change things on the fly and just go with the flow.
As you can see, it's not following the green template very well.
The Morelli shape is more forgiving, but I'm not sure that I'm using it right.
The glue is still drying on the model, and I have to sand down the balsa wood targa roof yet, but it is at a review point, or at least pour a glass of wine point.
Industrial Design - Transportation pictures by kach22i - Photobucket
Many more photos in my album:
Industrial Design - Transportation pictures by kach22i - Photobucket
Side headroom is a bit tight, and the rear passenger is just about sitting on the floor. I think there is some working room here, and problems can be smoothed out given more time and a better more accurate model.
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QUESTIONS: On a scale of comparable cars, where would this one fall?
What kind of Cd would you predict?
There is this product call Monopan which I would make this car out of (model is out of plastic poster board). I would fill the cavities with carbon foam, which would hold a charge (absorb energy upon impact too) and act as a giant capacitor in combination with batteries driving an electric motor at each wheel.