I’d like to introduce you to a concept car called the Splinter (I’d suggest that they use a sponsored name like “Viagra” as it is highly appropriate for the car and Pfizer might actually fund some of the development of the car if the name was used for marketing).

I saw this car this morning. It was impeccably timed after I was randomly thinking all morning about creative uses for wood accents in building another all out demo car. I’m always trying to push the creativity of my projects and concepts and wood seems like something I’d gravitate towards creatively using in innovative ways for accents. Although I’m not sure this car  featured here will ever exist, I do think that it is inevitable that wood will make a comeback in the tuning scene. I have a few ideas myself but no project car to do it with at the moment. Maybe someday…

Back to the Splinter…This thing is nuts. I’m not really sure how well this car can hold together with 600hp if it is actually built as a functional concept, but it looks really really cool. I LOVE the wheels in particular, its like a wooden spyker wheel with crazy lip. I’d totally rock those with stretched tires on a blister fendered Miata.

Words from the guys behind it (Joe Harmon Design):

“We aren’t really all about mission statements around here; too often, they are phoney and superfluous. That said, here is ours. 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.”

More pics:

By the way: Did you catch the use of the high exit exhaust (above the tail lights). Remember that post a few weeks back where I mentioned that rising trend…here it is, popping up again.