WIP (DPX Racecar body)

[7Stones]

It looks to me as if you were given a car design around which it would be a little more challenging to design a pleasing car body then would normally be the case. I haven't had a chance to look at the web site but I assume that the engine is mounted beside the driver.

Here are some of my thoughts or personal tastes on the car design (which will undoubtedly differ from those of others :) ). I hope these are the kind of crits you where looking for and that they help or give you ideas in some way...

-- The driver looks like he is sunk a bit too deeply into a hole to me, which would impair his or her vision. I'd have to look at a formula one racecar to be sure but it would seem to me that the windshield and height of the car body in front of the driver should be similar to a formula one racecar and not look quite so high. Practicality aside, though, the height of the car body in front of the driver just looks disturbing to me. I'd also like to see the reverse done behind the driver by raising the car body just a bit directly behind the driver without hindering aerodynamics.

-- From the front the curve of the body shell over the wheels is too narrow for my taste and not sexy or aggressive enough in shape. I'd like to see the curves over the wheels enlarged (smoother, longer sweeping curves) and emphasized. To help do this I would curve the side of the car inward slightly like a woman's waist. This doesn't meant there couldn't be one bodyline that was straight. What bothers me is that the side of the car is very flat.

-- I'd like to see the position of the engine emphasized by the shape of the car's body rather then hidden under a smooth hump that disappears front and back, without hurting the car's aerodynamics. Emphasize the asymmetrical design more and give the engine a more aggressive intake. Perhaps the car is very asymmetrical on one end and the other end is very symmetrical as the shapes blend from one end to the other. Tricky. I might be asking the impossible.

Good work none-the-less.

Look forward to seeing how this design progresses.

[EighthDecay]

I think you nailed it, I worked with the designer to get to this current form,

I modeled the body to fit the existing chassis and engine, it also fits very similar to the current car, so this will be a more stream lined version of the existing car.

being that this is a small car, I couldn't do much to change the side air flow kind of dictates the overall flow of the body as not to create any lift of abnormal down force. I tried the more contoured thing you mentioned but per the design plans I got it didn't look to apealing.

I might go about editing the side channel quite a bit to create a concaved curve inside that area.
I'll need to edit it further more to acquire some of the designers comments but from there we are going to send it off for a 1/5th scale model.

thanks for spending the time for thinking thru your ideas and opinions. It definitly makes me want to play around with the sides more.

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