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GradID rubber band powered car competition

Overview

Formula-e is an International rubber band-powered race car competition meant to showcases design ingenuity, triumph over failure plus other skills crucial to success in a global, creative economy. Teams of four designers came together to push the limits of whats possible in a rubber band powered car.

Process

Our team quickly tested out hypotheses to improve on what had been working well in previous years and reduce factors that may limit the speed and handling of the vehicle. We tested four versions before settling on our final design. Factors we tested in the images above were single drive, dual drive, lightweight chassis construction and winding strength.

Another factor we chose to include was creating a body shell and and flat under-shell to hopefully optimize aerodynamics. we CNCd the body out of modeling foam and vacuum formed the body, taped and painted for the final appearance. For us, this was one of our distinguishing factors as most teams ran the race without any cover.

Creating a team name, and branding was part of the challenge, and I took on the role of graphic designer to develop our logo and T-shirts.