Million Dollar Skunksworks Kirkham - Page 47

RedBarchetta · #**921** (**permalink**) 09-08-2009, 02:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by David Kirkham

"...Our electric supercar..."

Did I miss a previous scoop, or is this it in real time?!?

-Dean

1ntCobra · #**922** (**permalink**) 09-08-2009, 03:01 PM

Electric Supercar? Looks like you let another skunkworks picture slip out into public view.

4pipes · #**923** (**permalink**) 09-08-2009, 03:37 PM

Makes me even more proud to own a Kirkham.

David Kirkham · #**924** (**permalink**) 09-08-2009, 04:24 PM

The pdf files are up now for the first two chapters. They are much better resolution. Click on this link

http://www.kirkhammotorsports.com/book_aoe/

Then you can click on

Introduction
Chapter 1: The Design Team

We are still cleaning up the web page, but I wanted it to get up as soon as possible.

Any problems, let me know!

David

Mark IV · #**925** (**permalink**) 09-08-2009, 04:32 PM

"The Art of Engineering by David Kirham"
Dunno this "Kirham" guy............

David Kirkham · #**926** (**permalink**) 09-08-2009, 04:57 PM

Fixed! Thanks!

David

Bluedog · #**927** (**permalink**) 09-09-2009, 10:42 AM

David,

I may have missed it in this long thread but how did this masterpiece perform? What were the final numbers? Thanks!

David Kirkham · #**928** (**permalink**) 09-09-2009, 06:41 PM

Some of you may already know, but I play the piano. I really only play Chopin. (I do play Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata as an exception). I really liked one of Chopin's quotes for the design of the car. Chopin use of "slur" refers to a section of music that is played very smoothly and deftly together so the notes all blend together. It is diabolically difficult to actually achieve in practice. Chopin's use of the word in English is doubly interesting.

I knew if we "slurred" over the suspension design, it would come back to haunt us.

David Kirkham · #**929** (**permalink**) 09-09-2009, 06:45 PM

Chris needed many parts digitized so they could be put in the chassis. Parts like the seats, engine, transmission, differential, wheels, etc. couldn't change so they had to be put in the car from the beginning to make sure everything fit together.

David Kirkham · #**930** (**permalink**) 09-09-2009, 06:47 PM

Here we taped out a grid on our fiberglass master tool. Everywhere the tape crosses and forms an "X" we took a point and placed it into the computer as a 3 dimensional coordinate. The points were then stitched together to make a surface. Maya was used to do the surface work.

David Kirkham · #**931** (**permalink**) 09-09-2009, 06:49 PM

Larry gave us complete freedom of design with the car. We knew handling was the most important part of the car to us because we knew Larry was going to drive his car--not just look at it. We took the digitized body and placed it in space over the 4 wheels. We weren't going to change the wheels or the body so they had to say exactly as they were.

We then put in the engine, transmission, differential, and seats. From there, we were free to design what ever we wanted. We started by designing the suspension. When we had it as perfect as we could get it, we simply made the frame go out and pick up the suspension points where ever they were.

David Kirkham · #**932** (**permalink**) 09-09-2009, 06:50 PM

Chris pulled his hair out searching for thousandths of an inch in the kinematics of the suspension. Everything was done to an unbelievable amount of detail so nothing would come back to bite us in the end. Testing of the car proved Thomas' suspension design right. The number crunching on a project like this is pretty incredible.

David Kirkham · #**933** (**permalink**) 09-09-2009, 06:56 PM

We moved the suspension completely though all of the movements to check the kinematics. You can see we designed the suspension with stick models until all the numbers were right.

David Kirkham · #**934** (**permalink**) 09-09-2009, 06:57 PM

A look at an early version of the rear suspension. We later beefed up the rocker to a very stiff, triangular shape. The body is translucent in the CAD to check for interferences.

David Kirkham · #**935** (**permalink**) 09-09-2009, 07:00 PM

Screen captures of the FEA (Finite Element Analysis) on the suspension. The areas of red show the highest stress concentrations. The rod ends are red because we modeled them in aluminum to simplify number crunching. In reality, they were made from heat treated 4340 chromoly.

David Kirkham · #**936** (**permalink**) 09-09-2009, 07:02 PM

And for those who don't want to wait any longer...

Here is the entire book on pdf!

http://www.kirkhammotorsports.com/book_aoe/

I'll keep posting pictures an commentary as I can.

David

mr bruce · #**937** (**permalink**) 09-09-2009, 07:12 PM

So who owns the files, in other words, how much to build another, now that all the hard work is done( if sumone were to smack the lotto.) and ,this is the most impressive part (at least to me it is)http://www.kirkhammotorsports.com/book_aoe/aoe_07.pdf

David Kirkham · #**938** (**permalink**) 09-09-2009, 07:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bluedog

David,

I may have missed it in this long thread but how did this masterpiece perform? What were the final numbers? Thanks!

I refer you to page 193 in the book.

"My favorite comment came from the head of the Miller Motorsports Driving School. After several hot laps, he said, “You know, with a Cobra you run out of chassis long before you run out of motor. With this car, I just kept pushing it harder and harder. I ran out of motor before I ran out of chassis. This has potential for a serious race car."

Miller Motorsports owns two of our cars and Larry Miller has several original Cobras in his collection. The drivers at the track drove all of them (ours and the originals) regularly.

David

David Kirkham · #**939** (**permalink**) 09-09-2009, 07:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr bruce

So who owns the files, in other words, how much to build another, now that all the hard work is done( if sumone were to smack the lotto.) and ,this is the most impressive part (at least to me it is)http://www.kirkhammotorsports.com/book_aoe/aoe_07.pdf

The rear wheel well posed an extreme challenge. We had to turn the corner with the rear suspension loads to move them forward. There simply wasn't any other alternative--so we carved the transition out of a block of aluminum. Most people don't realize the driver's head is behind the leading edge of the rear tire. The wheelbase is extremely short in these cars. See page 61 for a photo.

We haven't thought about price for another car. Even with the programming done, the car is extraordinarily difficult to make. Anyone who wants one would undoubtedly want all sorts of different options and custom parts so the car would not end up exactly like this one anyway. It would be best if anyone interested called and we discussed their vision of their own car.

David

twobjshelbys · #**940** (**permalink**) 09-09-2009, 08:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by David Kirkham

Miller Motorsports owns two of our cars and Larry Miller has several original Cobras in his collection. The drivers at the track drove all of them (ours and the originals) regularly.

David

That's a severe understatement. Larry (RIP) owned my favorite - CSX2299 Daytona Coupe #13.

And this "daily racer"

from the placard must be Bill's favorite car:

RIP Larry. He probably had more passion about these cars than anyone.