500F (Street Version)

Last crawled date: 1 year, 10 months ago

Hi,

With this design I was aiming to create something with a bit more of a 'classical' design language in the hope of creating a more timelessly shaped automobile. I thus opted for bulging arches and soft flowing lines that hark back to old 30's racers. I did however also want to bring in some modernity into it so that the vehicle will appeal to younger clientele, as you'll note some of the more edgy and sculpted details.

These details aren't just there for beauty, but for practicality and aerodynamics too. The shoulder crease allowed me to remove bulk from that area, whilst still covering the rollcage. The creases also serve a purpose with guiding the airflow around the cabin glass and over the centre of the car. The large arches where shaped to steer the flow of air over the car rather than around it to increase downforce, with the sculpted large frontal splitters helping too.

The air intakes where also placed in such a way as to take air from lower down and to have it exit at a higher point. The tail was also given a little kick-up to add some downforce too. All this was done to eliminate the need for an aerofoil, that'll add drag and detract from the otherwise simple forms.

Care was taken to keep the cabin as small as possible too in order to keep the frontal area no bigger than it needs to be. The side windows can roll down just to the inside of the side impact beam.

Liberty was taken with the frontal grille and made large in order to help give the car a face, it's mouth with an aggressive demeanour. The frontal grille is largely blocked as with many cars today and serves more as a styling point than an absolute cooling opening but cabin cooling and brake ducts run from here. All engine cooling and air requirements are met through the side intakes with a large part of the rear and a slot at the top of the roof allowing air to escape as easily as possible in order to help with this, as well as to allow air to fill the low pressure area behind the vehicle, reducing drag.

The A-pillar runs all the way into the C-pillar to create a clean look with a blacked out B-pillar nestled across from the roll cage, to cover it, but also not to add to the obscuring of the driver's view. The daylight openings where kept large to help with visibility as well as create a feeling of lightness with the whole glass piece above the driver and passenger removable in order to experience the Targa driving experience.

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I hope you like my design.
It was done in SolidWorks and rendered in it as well. Most of the body surfacing does have curvature continuity, but many parts had to be built manually to accomplish this. There has been some glitches in the rendering with SW's mirror function and it has rendered out colours on parts that weren't assigned to it, whilst other mirrored parts rendered perfectly. Sorry, I have not found a solution yet, as everything appears correct in the modelling viewport.

But I trust you get the idea of where I was going with this design.

Schalk