Quantcast

Red Bull Soap Box Car

Motionboy2

Calendar Dominator
Apr 23, 2002
1,800
0
Broomfield, Colorado
Some of you may remember me, I suck at posting on the internet anymore, however I do a bunch of lurking.

Anyhow, if you do remember me you will remember that I have done a lot of photography in the past. I haven't given up on that, but I have definitely decided to try to get my hands a bit dirtier these days to build things and bring the ideas to 3D life rather than simply 2D. I mean, that is 33% more D!

Anyhow last year a crew of friends and myself entered the Red Bull soap box race in Denver. This year we are doing it again!

The Crew: Matt Fisher, Jeremiah Hueske, Sandra Hueske, Josh McGuckin (Me) and James Olson

The car This year we are making the Mach 5 from Speed Racer. This thing is going to be a real car, or as close as we can get to a real car. We have been putting in more hours than you can imagine to make this thing look as good as it can.
Here is the Inspiration:


The Build
We have been putting HOURS into this thing so I am going to give you a quick overview, if you would like to see more details on the build check out our website: www.goteamspeedracer.com

We started off with a plan and a picture from google images. From there we created a chassis design and a CAD drawing of the body.







We then welded up the chassis, fabricated steering arms, steering components and axles.












Body

From here we moved on to making the body. Last year we did a fiberglass ferrari (Ferris Buellers day off) but the body was made with no negative draft so it looked like an RC car or something, it didn't have the contours that made it truely look like a real car. This year, we wanted to have that undercut, something that gave it the real look of a car. So we had to go with a Female mold this year. It is the only way. We spent a lot of time figuring out the plan and decided to waterjet cut foam into 2 inch sections in order to get the basic shape of the vehicle. This was to form the Plug that the mold would be built from.



















Once the plug was finished, gel coated and ready to go we made bariers on the car with clay to separate our mold into sections and laid up fiberglass in 4 sections, two sides a nose and a tail.













The female mold is now complete and we will be waxing it tonight so we can lay up the body skin on Friday. It will be great to pull the mold off the skin and finally see the body that we have been putting all this effort into!

I'll keep you guys updated, but again, if you'd like to get more details ask questions or check out www.goteamspeedracer.com

The vehicle we built last year can be found at www.teamsaveferris.com
 

4xBoy

Turbo Monkey
Jun 20, 2006
7,014
2,847
Minneapolis
Really cool.

Seems funny that the female mold style is done of a body that has no real features unlike the Ferrari body.

Color me jealous.
 

Motionboy2

Calendar Dominator
Apr 23, 2002
1,800
0
Broomfield, Colorado
Yeah, this thing has been a ton of work, but we are getting close to the end! I'll post up some more pix when we get further along. We have a bunch of videos on the site as well, so check it all out! If we are gonna work this hard for a 1 day race, then we mind as well show off our efforts, right!?
 

Motionboy2

Calendar Dominator
Apr 23, 2002
1,800
0
Broomfield, Colorado
We just finished laying up the body skin last night at 4am. We got a roll of mat for the whole vehicle, we figured we'd reinforce the crucial areas with woven in order to save a few bucks (this vehicle will be used for a grand total of 30 seconds afterall) So we waxed up the mold, taped all the seems and sprayed the whole thing with PVA. It was shiny and smooth and only a few blems here and there.





We got another visit from Red Bull a well, with a nice delivery of beverages.



after we got back to work we started laying up glass. The first layer of glass took us about 3.5 hours! We were very specific about rolling out all the bubbles so we can get this thing smooth!



Layers continued and the vehicle progressed





After we got our first couple layers on and they cured completely we had to finish off the nose and tail. We used Milled fibers made up into a paste. This filled in the nosecones with the goop and should provide us with a nice finish up front and in the back.







we were pushing hard to get all the layers done last night, I mean really hard. It was a long night but we got it done






We got it done though and we will be taking it out of the mold this evening.



 

Motionboy2

Calendar Dominator
Apr 23, 2002
1,800
0
Broomfield, Colorado
Yup fiberglass is a bit rough to work with, though we aren't having the issues this time around because we are learning from last years mistakes.

Anyhow, we pulled the body off the mold...



...and I think it looks awesome!
 

Motionboy2

Calendar Dominator
Apr 23, 2002
1,800
0
Broomfield, Colorado
Thanks man! We have been having fun building this thing, but it is even more encouraging when we know other people are enjoying it as well!

Body is now mounted...

 

Motionboy2

Calendar Dominator
Apr 23, 2002
1,800
0
Broomfield, Colorado
The car is nearly done and not a moment to soon! We are leaving tonight after we install the windshield and side view mirrors. As of now it has a nice white sheen to it and it is just dying to get some decals on it! We did hubcaps for this thing and they look sweet.

Yesterday I got a call from the Creative Director at Speed Racer Enterprises. We hadn't contacted them and they just found it randomly. Anyhow they were so excited, they are sending staff to the race to check it out!





We're heading out tonight and we are racing saturday, you can Text vote for us on Saturday so definitely get your cell phones out and check www.goteamspeedracer.com closer to the event for information on how to vote for us. We will update it as soon as we get info.
 

Motionboy2

Calendar Dominator
Apr 23, 2002
1,800
0
Broomfield, Colorado
Well, we pulled off a 3rd place and the Peoples choice awards. Our skit music started without warning and we pretty much screwed up our whole skit, so we couldn't expect to get good scores there unfortunately. We did well though, Fastest time on the course and a huge margin of votes from the peoples choice awards. People were so impressed with the vehicle! It was great to be part of the event!

 

Motionboy2

Calendar Dominator
Apr 23, 2002
1,800
0
Broomfield, Colorado
So wait, you were fastest on the course *and* the most people voted for you? What other input is there??
So the way the Soapbox race works, in order to win the race you need to win the best creativity which includes craftsmanship, concept etc. Then you need to win the best Time, which is simply fastest time down course then finally you need to win the best showmanship. This is what the judges score you on after your run. They score you on your skit and your run. Since our skit got all messed up our scores were not as good, so we ended up coming in 3rd.
 

moff_quigley

Why don't you have a seat over there?
Jan 27, 2005
4,402
2
Poseurville
So soap box car racing got turned into synchronized swimming?

That car kicks all possible backside. Very, very cool. Props.
 

Motionboy2

Calendar Dominator
Apr 23, 2002
1,800
0
Broomfield, Colorado
Well, no sh*t, that was Roland Sands. I had no idea. So that means we were up against, hollywood production companies, builders from Overhaulin, creatives from Pixar, Troy Lee and A well established and known custom motorcycle builder at the very least. It is crazy to see all the people come out with the crafts!