A Supercar Faster than a Porsche or Lamborghini but Made of Wood
 

This car is expected to have 600 HP, weigh just under 1150 kg, come with a Cadillac Northstar sourced V-8 4.6 liter engine, have a top speed of 240 MPH, and oh yeah, be made of wood. This wooden supercar, known as the Splinter, will be able to go from 0-60 is just over 3 seconds and is eco-friendly.

Th pictures shown are mock-ups. For actual photos of the car being built, check out this Flickr Slideshow.

UPDATE: Please note that the car is still being built and is expected to have the stats featured above.

It gets about 20 MPG, and comes fitted with some very unique wooden rims. The car has a roll cage to protect the driver, though it can only seat two people.

The car is being designed by a team led by 27 year old graduate student Joe Harmon at NC State. The car is just a project, but has been getting a lot of mainstream attention. The team has been blogging about the development of the wooden supercar at Harmon’s Blogspot Blog.

Looking into the future, Harmon has said that it may not be long before a F1 driver gets behind the wheel of a wooden racecar. Here is a description of the project from the group’s website:

We are building a high-performance, mid-engined supercar from wood composites as a graduate project at North Carolina State University. Wood will be used whereever possible, including the chassis, body, and large percentages of the suspension components and wheels. The car has a target weight of 2500lbs and a power goal of over 600 horsepower. We aren’t trying to sell anything; we aren’t trying to save the world, and we aren’t advocating that everyone should drive a wooden car. This project is a scholastic endeavour in which are simply trying to explore materials, learn, teach, share ideas, and stimulate creativity. This section details who we are and what we are doing. We hope you enjoy checking out what we are working on.

so when are they gonna ask for the copyrights from lambo!

Exactly. I dunno, I'm not saying its bogus, I'm just a little skeptical

How the hell is this vehicle "eco-friendly" if its made of wood!! Sounds so contradicting. Lets hope it doesnt catch on fire.

hahahah, i never ever thought of that. let's see, heat from the motor and external parts, plus wood. hell, they better make this for the entertainment factor. lol

LOL.... i hope they treat it for the rain:P

It's a 240mph tree on the road... lol there's something fishy about the car's name.. Splinter.. and I'm not too sure about the aerodynamics of this car at 240mph.. I can almost imagine it breaking apart starting from the engine hood latch or whatever you call that..

lol ya those things would fly right off, this is a bogus idea the whole car will turn to recycled crap after seeing the rain a few times.. imagine having it after a coupe years the thing would start to grow moss in the wheel wells haha.. i wouldnt feel safe in that car, on a dry hot day your out rippin the woodie and all of a sudden an elecrical wire sparks against another WOOOOSHH!!! bye bye investment

I hate to see a crash test of that car, wood can't be too good to absorb the enegery of an impact.

neat idea though, you gotta hand that to them... certainly likely never to be copied again, whether it will be remember for being a total idiotic idea or not though...

and btw, the car is made from wood composites, not real wood, from my understanding of it means wood chips and wood bits and run-offs pressured together using glue, certainly not the greenest stuff of all that glue, but the source is green, and so is the fact that its not actual virgin wood

maybe that's why they named it Splinter.. when you get into a crash driving that pile of wood you'll probably get splinters..? lol.. i dunno..

Forget bird droppings... Watchout for wood peckers!

LOL
forget the wax, i need wood polish

when i saw "wood" i didnt expect it to look so nice lol
but then the car would bend itself from rain u would have to nail it back and varnish or polish it every so often haha pretty cool tho

Well I guess you'll never have to worry about rust!