Splinter supercar gets its wooden debut

Click above for high-res gallery of the Splinter Wooden Supercar

When we first reported on the Splinter, we thought that the students at North Carolina State University had no intentions of building the unique wooden supercar. Apparently, we were wrong. As much of the interior and exterior of the car as possible is made from good ole' fashioned wood, including the frame, wheels and little pieces such as the steering wheel. Specifically, the body shell is a composite, like fiberglass or carbon fiber. Much of the external skin, while still wood, is actually a weave and is coated in an epoxy. While it should prove to be plenty strong, we don't imagine that building a car with this particular process results in a car which is all that light. Still, nobody is going to argue that this car isn't renewable.

There is at least one part of the car that's not made from wood: the drivetrain. A twin-supercharged Northstar V8 engine will power the car and a 6-speed tranny will send the power to the rear wheels - suspended of course on transverse leaf springs made from laminated wood.

For some cool pictures of the process, check out Autoblog's gallery: Splinter Wooden Supercar - the build

[Source: Building the Splinter via Jalopnik via Autoblog]

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