Nissan Design America Applies Innovative Car Design to Create an Extreme Gravity
August 21, 2004 | Levent OZLER
Nissan Design America (NDA), known for such cutting-edge vehicles as the 350Z and Titan, has used its automotive design acumen to build a sleek and silent race car, known as the Nissan Gravity Racer. Nissan and five other automotive manufacturers will compete for charity at the fourth annual 2004 Extreme Gravity Racing Series, Saturday, Aug. 21 at Premier Automotive, 1 Premier, Irvine, Calif. Racing begins at 10:00 a.m.
Nissan's participation in the event supports America Works for Kids, a charity organization founded to provide paying jobs for foster kids as well as help to develop their professional skills and introduce them to the field of car design.
A team of designers from NDA's La Jolla studio sketched out a sleek, 8'x3'x3' aerodynamic racing machine built strong enough to compete on the 75-foot wooden ramp and 200-foot straightaway. After months of concept work and design renderings, designers built the lightweight Nissan Gravity Racer composed of carbon-graphite tubing and covered with a translucent canopy, leaving nothing hidden on the frame, including the computer-generated CNC milled aluminum knuckles. In an innovative approach, the racer features wheelchair racing wheels complete with smooth bicycle tires inflated to 160 psi to optimize rolling resistance and reduce friction.
According to Ray Devers, ND
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