Augmented Dickey posted:

So why are they even there to start with?

Pr0kjayhawk posted:

It's not so much the Mezger specifically but the fact that the road-going GT3 had a direct lineage to their motorsport program. Most owners that track their GT3s appreciate the fact that it's same family of engine that is used in Porsche's competitive motorsport program. I don't give a poo poo who makes the engine or where it came from in my track car, I want to know that it's going to hold up on the track.

That's not to say the 9A1 won't hold up well with all those special parts, it's that no one really knows. The first GT3 that came to the states had a well-established history in motorsport up to that point. Teams spent hundreds of hours torturing the engines and its weak points were identified long before it was used in a production car. That can't be said for this round of the GT3.

AI posted:

Alfa 4C lights

IOwnCalculus posted:

Yeah, they wouldn't use that logo if it was anything other than a Roots blower.

quote:

Picture an assembly line not that isn’t made up of robotic arms spewing sparks to weld heavy steel, but a warehouse of plastic-spraying printers producing light, cheap and highly efficient automobiles.

If Jim Kor’s dream is realized, that’s exactly how the next generation of urban runabouts will be produced. His creation is called the Urbee 2 and it could revolutionize parts manufacturing while creating a cottage industry of small-batch automakers intent on challenging the status quo.
...
Kor and his team built the three-wheel, two-passenger vehicle at RedEye, an on-demand 3-D printing facility. The printers he uses create ABS plastic via Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM). The printer sprays molten polymer to build the chassis layer by microscopic layer until it arrives at the complete object. The machines are so automated that the building process they perform is known as “lights out” construction, meaning Kor uploads the design for a bumper, walk away, shut off the lights and leaves. A few hundred hours later, he’s got a bumper. The whole car – which is about 10 feet long – takes about 2,500 hours.
...
To further remedy the issues caused by modern car-construction techniques, Kor used the design freedom of 3-D printing to combine a typical car’s multitude of parts into simple unibody shapes. For example, when he prints the car’s dashboard, he’ll make it with the ducts already attached without the need for joints and connecting parts. What would be dozens of pieces of plastic and metal end up being one piece of 3-D printed plastic.

oxbrain posted:

http://www.wired.com/autopia/2013/02/3d-printed-car/

3-D Printed Car Is as Strong as Steel, Half the Weight, and Nearing Production


Pretty neat technology, but I don't see it revolutionizing jack poo poo until they can get the printing time down.

Cakefool posted:

This is a great first step if it makes it to market, 10 HP, 1200lbs on a motorcycle classification is a foot in the door & proof of concept. Don't expect Ford to print the next fusion but Tesla or TVR might experiment in this direction.

oxbrain posted:

Supercars and expensive luxury cars maybe, but would those type of buyers go for an all plastic car?

oxbrain posted:

http://www.wired.com/autopia/2013/02/3d-printed-car/

3-D Printed Car Is as Strong as Steel, Half the Weight, and Nearing Production


Pretty neat technology, but I don't see it revolutionizing jack poo poo until they can get the printing time down.

drgitlin posted:

I think it will suffer the same problems as Gordon Murray's T25; car companies have a huge amount of money invested in making cars they way they do, they don't seem eager to throw that away for a radically different model, and no one else wants to put up the cash.

Cat Terrist posted:

TBH, it's a mindfuck it can be done at all. And yes, they will get the printing time down and this has all the hallmarks of a paradigm shift if that happens to the point where it becomes mass production viable, which I think the chances are good.

quote:

In early 2012, President Obama proposed the development of a National Network for Manufacturing Innovation. This includes the funding of a pilot institute focused on additive manufacturing. The deadline for proposals for the pilot institute was June 14, 2012 and the selection is expected to be made by mid-August.

quote:

Our first priority is making America a magnet for new jobs and manufacturing.. . Last year, we created our first manufacturing innovation institute in Youngstown, Ohio. A once-shuttered warehouse is now a state-of-the art lab where new workers are mastering the 3D printing that has the potential to revolutionize the way we make almost everything. There’s no reason this can’t happen in other towns.

Throatwarbler posted:

Throatwarbler posted:

asmallrabbit posted:

Am I the only one that finds it annoying that the speedometer is small and off to the side while the rpms are right in the center?

asmallrabbit posted:

Am I the only one that finds it annoying that the speedometer is small and off to the side while the rpms are right in the center?

asmallrabbit posted:

Am I the only one that finds it annoying that the speedometer is small and off to the side while the rpms are right in the center?

asmallrabbit posted:

Am I the only one that finds it annoying that the speedometer is small and off to the side while the rpms are right in the center?

Laserface posted:

And having a dashboard comprised entirely of one part just sounds bad when heater cores and wiring and stereos have to be removed.

Laserface posted:

And having a dashboard comprised entirely of one part just sounds bad when heater cores and wiring and stereos have to be removed.

asmallrabbit posted:

Am I the only one that finds it annoying that the speedometer is small and off to the side while the rpms are right in the center?

Throatwarbler posted:

It's a bad time to be trying to come up with a new production line/methodology for building cars, when there are so many incumbent car makers that are hard up for cash and willing to sell their designs and tooling to anyone to stay solvent. That's what the Chinese car makers have been doing hand over fist. Just buy up the design and tooling for that last gen Mazda6/Mitsubishi Galant/SAAB 9-3, maybe give it a minor cosmetic refresh and sell the thing for $13k. It's all legit and above-board, GM/Mazda/whoever can probably even send some people to help you set it up for the right price, the design and technology is all proven and off-the-shelf i terms of reliability, safety and emissions, etc. It's a lot easier/less risky than trying to come up with your own thing from scratch.

Muffinpox posted:

The advantage of 3D printing car parts is being able to have design targets allowed by construction techniques that are normally difficult, impossible, or extremely costly to produce for a road car. Body panels could be lighter and stronger is they were made with honeycombed metal, but the cost and difficulty vs. extra weight saved isn't worth it. Even if you can print off an ABS door with a honeycomb structure that is only comparable to a stamped steel door, you're most likely going to save money in tooling.

Or in cases like a vehicle frame where you need to jam a bunch of metals together and weld, being able to print off a solid unit would allow you to design in a bunch of reinforcements that normally would be impractical with normal manufacturing techniques.