Splinter supercar a carpenter's delight

Splinter supercar a carpenter's delight Timberrr!!!.... this 300km/h supercar will be built largely out of wood composites Words Gautam Sharma

We'll spare you the inevitable gags about "cracking a woody" or how it "wooden work", because the wooden Splinter supercar is actually kind of cool -- in an offbeat sort of way.

Created by a handful of graduate students at North Carolina State University in the US, the appropriately named Splinter is billed as a 450kW projectile that will top 300km/h.

Extending Morgan's ash-frame design methodology to a much more extreme degree, the Splinter uses wood not only for the chassis and body, but also for parts of the suspension and wheels.

Motive power will come from a twin-supercharged Northstar V8 (sourced from Cadillac) and the car's projected weight of under 1150kg suggests its performance will be electrifying.

Obviously, the combination of high temperatures and wooden construction could be a cause for some concern, and to help ensure the Splinter doesn't end up as a very expensive bonfire, the exhaust exits from the top of the block and out through mufflers in the wing.

The Splinter is suspended by leaf springs fabricated from Osage Orange -- a timber that's hard, strong and flexible. Even the spokes for the wheels are hewn from wood.

Visually, the wooden supercar appears to embody a mishmash of styling cues borrowed from Lamborghini, Pagani and Koenigsegg. That said, the end result is quite pleasing to the eye. It's distinctive, at the very least.

You may well ask whether there's any real future for a wooden supercar in an era when carbon-fibre, Kevlar and aluminium are becoming de rigueur for 300km/h-plus projectiles.

Its creators are playing the project down, saying: "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 endeavor in which we are simply trying to explore materials, learn, share ideas, and stimulate creativity."

The left-field project certainly gets the thumbs-up from us for stretching the design envelope, but tree huggers may feel otherwise.

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