Click above for high-res gallery of the Splinter Wooden Supercar

When we first reported on the Splinter, we thought that the students at North Carolina State University had no intentions of building the unique wooden supercar. Apparently, we were wrong. As much of the interior and exterior of the car as possible is made from good ole' fashioned wood, including the frame, wheels and little pieces such as the steering wheel. Specifically, the body shell is a composite, like fiberglass or carbon fiber. Much of the external skin, while still wood, is actually a weave and is coated in an epoxy. While it should prove to be plenty strong, we don't imagine that building a car with this particular process results in a car which is all that light. Still, nobody is going to argue that this car isn't renewable.

There is at least one part of the car that's not made from wood: the drivetrain. A twin-supercharged Northstar V8 engine will power the car and a 6-speed tranny will send the power to the rear wheels - suspended of course on transverse leaf springs made from laminated wood.

For some cool pictures of the process, check out Autoblog's gallery: Splinter Wooden Supercar - the build

[Source: Building the Splinter via Jalopnik via Autoblog]

Wood used to be commonplace in automobiles. That's why Ford once bought large chunks of forest in Northern Michigan. Today, though, we don't see much in the way of wood in vehicles, especially not on the exterior. But that didn't stop the students at North Carolina State University from creating the Splinter, a sports car made with wood composites.

This thing won't ever get made - it's graduate project, and the students said that "we aren't trying to sell anything, we aren't trying to save the world, and we aren't advocating that everyone should drive a wooden car. This project is a scholastic endeavor in which we are simply trying to explore materials, learn, share ideas, and stimulate creativity" - but the students did find a lot of interesting ways to integrate wood and a high-performance twin-supercharged Northstar V8 engine into a sleek sports car body. The muffler, as you can see in a picture over at Winding Road, is on top of the rear end to help dissipate heat better. Wood finds its way into the chassis and parts of the suspension and wheels as well as the body. And hey, if the termites get into your hood, you'll know what to do with them.

Head on over to Autoblog for more images of the Splinter in this gallery.

[Source: Winding Road via Autoblog]