its exam time again, so im procrastinating and looking at web sites. here is a great one that Clausen told me about: dpcars
have a look down the left hand bar for the silver single-seater thing. it this guys diary on designing and building a 700lb, 170-350hp (NA/Turbo) 4wd car. powered by a hayabusa engine. you click on the numbers at the top to go through the pages of his diary.

i wish i was this guy. 2 dukes in the living room, the dp1 (car described above) in parts in his spare room, and in the shed an R1, megabusa clubman, shifter cart, and a new mini.

anyone else know of any good sites about people building their own cars (outside of fsae)? i always enjoy reading about these projects, its like fsae without the stress.

i mean, damn, have a look at this for a garage:

ducati 748, "westie" megabusa, lotus elise, bmw m coupe.

I definatly spent half my day at work looking through this guy's site. I am left to wonder what hell he does for a living..

I spent way too much time looking at that today also. That car he's building is pretty sweet, seems to me like he should be putting more thought into the chassis though. He's making the body before the chassis is even designed.

Really cool though. I too wonder what he does to pay for this stuff, I think it said he was some kind of engineer.

one thing i have noticed about life is that middle-aged bachelors seem to have a huge amount of disposable income compared to married men.

its either (mens view) no credit card bills, or (womens view) men dont plan for the future. but the fact remains, bachelors have more toys...

and in the spirit of procrastination, here is the guys job: http://randomresearch.com/

note that he has won contracts from the US navy. if thats anything like the australian army, then thats where his money comes from. army are hopeless with money, according to them if it doesnt cost at least a million, its not worth it.

if you are a chronic procrastinator and your exams are on soon, dont read past here! you will fail!

damn, just checked out dpcars.net links page.

Kimini 2.2 project - custom garage-built car with Mini-replica bodyshell.

Meerkat - custom mid-engine two seat sportscar.

La Bala - another project along the lines of Meerkat.


grrrr, i want a job now! need money to build a car!

from the kimini project:

Designing and building a car will truly enlighten you to the word “compromise.” Sometimes it is the realization that you can’t afford titanium wheels, sometimes it is the indecisiveness of where to place the roll-centers. You have to play an endless game of “give and take” in order to get the thing built. If you don’t, you risk getting the dreaded “Design paralysis: The inability to make any decision whatsoever because of numerous conflicting issues.” This can also lead to the belief that, when the car is done, one or more of the following scenarios will occur:

• Pushing it out of the garage for the very first time reveals that in your excitement, you neglected to put in brake fluid. This causes your car to coast down the driveway, across the street, and into the neighbor’s yard -- the neighbor who is upset about the loud banging sounds and blinding blue-white light coming from your garage late at night.
  
  
• Pushing it out of the garage for the very first time reveals that you have the steering rack installed such that a right turn is left. (This can actually happen.)
  
  
• After getting it all done a friend casually says “You know, for all that work and money, you should’ve just bought a used Viper,” and you agree.
  
  
• After spending months making the perfect design decisions, people tell you how they would have done it, and you realize their ideas are superior to yours.
  
  
• After putting it into gear for the very first time and popping the clutch, you realize your custom shift linkage cause Reverse to be where First should be.
  
  
• After doing all the calculations, including multiplying in your safety factor, the very first pothole you hit causes a wheel to break off.
  
  
• At the first event you enter, you are squarely beaten by a Honda Civic driven by a kid wearing baggy pants, crew cut, and backward baseball hat.
  
  
• You take your car to The Big Event. You notice some guy looking at your car, shaking his head, and you realize it’s Carroll Smith. He comes over and casually asks, “Is this yours?” “Um, yes… sir.” He asks, “Why did you build it this way, what were you thinking, and this, this here, it’s all wrong, and that over there is in single shear. Didn’t you read any of my books?”
  

lol. i wonder if this guy did fsae or something?

quote:

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Originally posted by gug:
_if you are a chronic procrastinator and your exams are on soon, dont read past here! you will fail!_

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sure enough, i still went ahead and read it ... now i got 2 hours before my finals start !!!

dont let the baby face fool you, im really an 3v1l person...

hope i didnt jinx you Rinaz!

NB. 3v1l = evil for anyone who cant speak l33t

quote:

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Originally posted by gug:
_if you are a chronic procrastinator and your exams are on soon, dont read past here! you will fail!_

---

you know ... after taking my aircraft structures finals ... im afraid those words could actually come true (i knew i shouldve listened!!!) hehe ...

wow...i just "wasted" a long time on that website. that guy is awsome. that is EXACTLY what i want to do after i finish my degree. what is with that guy? hmmmm...today im going to build another racecar...awsome. but gimme a break, 220hrs and 8 months is alot to spend on such a project?! i guess the guy never did fsae...

noobzor i pwnz ur azz 1337 is the way

you didn't by any chance play a game called diablo 2 did you? man i got sick of that talk...
(8{P= <---chinese dude

that website is something interesting to read about. gonna keep up with it and see how things turn out on that custom car.

actually, megatokyo got me sp34k1|/|g l337.

Gug, get back to work!!!!

dpcars.net --> I've been reading it for several years now. I am finishing up my own megabusa project. I have to say that the car could be built quickly if you had all of the parts and tools on hand. Unfortunately, Westfield stopped shipping kits to the U.S. almost 2 years ago. I purchased the last one shipped here, which was only a partial kit (chassis, bodywork [broken!], and suspension parts). This left quite alot to be developed!

If I do another semi pre-designed kit type car, I will go after the Radical Motorsports car. Same busa engine, whole new lease on life! The SR-3 now holds the N-Ring record!

Cheers