How to Build a Race Car for the Digital Age Pt. 2: Design
A Journey of Design with the SUTD E18
This is Part 2 in a series revealing how we built an AI-powered UrbanConcept race car for the Shell Eco-marathon Asia 2018, a race for fuel efficiency. Part 1 here.
Hi! We’re a student team at the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) building an UrbanConcept Eco Car for SEM 2018! Follow us on our journey as a team from design and build to the actual race on our Instagram and Facebook!
Disclaimer: Automotive design is a long, arduous process full of teeth-gnashing and hair-pulling. Below is a streamlined methodology, and one we tried to stick to as closely as we could. Enjoy!
Getting Into the Mood
The process begins by attempting to describe the emotions we wanted our product to convey. The E18 had to have a unique design language — exciting and iconic in every way. For us, this meant working with the team to construct a list of key words — themes that we wanted our final product to embody. We came up with:
- Power
- Elegance
- Beauty
- Efficiency
- Futuristic
Understanding these themes visually is no easy feat. Adjectives alone are often insufficient to give the design team a common vision. Our team began constructing a mood board (above), a collage of objects used to convey the look, feel and theme of the product we wanted to achieve.
They may choose to draw inspiration from existing automotive shapes, design language from existing machines, textures from nature, anything that they felt contributed towards capturing their desired visual aesthetic.
Our mood boards featured many design icons, including the Mercedes F1 car’s rear half, a retro Porsche, bespoke timepieces and more.
Now that our designers shared a common design language, we could begin on the next exciting process: iterative sketching.
Pedal to the Paper
Anyone can draw. No, really, even you! I’m certain anyone can pick up pen and paper, and produce something that at least vaguely resembles a car. Two wheels, a blocky body, some windows — immediately recognisable.
In reality however, properly sketching a car requires practice. Practice to not simply be a better artist, but specifically sketching automotive shapes.
Smooth, sweeping, confident lines are always preferred over the ‘hairy’ lines beginners tend to produce. Often, a trained eye can identify an iconic road car simply by a single body contour! Getting the shape, volume and proportion of one’s design is key to achieving a successful result.
UrbanConcept cars participating in the Shell Eco-marathon often have trouble with proportion. The rules dictate the vehicle’s outermost dimensions, and it is near-impossible to achieve a low, planted look like you might find on a modern sports car. Teams end up with a vehicle that’s too narrow and too tall, looking more UFO than Ferrari.
The team worked tirelessly to get the car’s proportions right, and I’m confident in saying I think our designers did a stellar job working within the constraints, with visual tricks like flaring the wheel arches and having a strong shoulder line from front to rear.
Try, Try, Try Again
No matter how skilled a designer is, he/she will never get it perfectly right on the first try. Automotive design, as with most disciplines, is a constant cycle of iteration, study and testing. The initial models of the SUTD E17 looked nothing like the E18, not least due to compliance with competition regulations and styling feedback.
The team went through countless iterations for the main body, and many more for each individual component. The car’s fins, front intake, headlights, rear lights, door mirrors, exhaust tips and interior layout have each been meticulously studied, fettled and adjusted to fit a functional or aesthetic need — usually a balance of both in most cases.
Once our designers were happy with a paper concept, they moved on to modelling their concept in 3D CAD (Computer Aided Design) software.
Make It Real
CAD software helps designers not just visualise how their product will look in 3D, but also allow them to place adjacent components into an environment. This gives them the additional perspective of how components fit into a scene, and if their look and feel work well together. Another round of iteration begins here, as they work to tweak (and in some cases, start from scratch on) their designs.
We won’t cover how to model in 3D here, but there are loads of great free tutorials and tools online. Google it!
With the E18, special attention was paid to the interior. Pillar-mounted controls for ignition, headlights and wipers, steering wheel mounted buttons and a 7” display give the cockpit a driver-centric, racing feel. Being in an actual competitive race, the E18 had to offer a superior ergonomic experience, with priority controls all within reach.
Most of the components pictured above are 3D-printed, allowing the team to achieve incredible, bespoke shapes at a minimal cost to weight and fuel efficiency.
Final Touches
Once the team is satisfied with a design, the finishing touches like material choice, colour, textures and graphics can be added. Practical concerns like cable routing and fastening are also adjusted at this stage.
The true final step is of course, production and assembly, but that’ll be covered in a future article. For now, we hope you’ve enjoyed this insight into how our team achieved the iconic look and feel of the SUTD E18! See you on the track, March 9–11 at the Changi Exhibition Centre!
This was part 2 in a series revealing how we built an AI-powered UrbanConcept eco car for the Shell Eco-marathon Asia 2018.
