Virginia and the All New E-Crosser.

I just got back from my vacation in Virginia.  My wife and I are regular virgins.  This state offers so much for something so close.  Yes our trip back was non-stop for 10+ hours, and yes, my right ankle has a blister on it from keeping it on the "Go" pedal for so long, but at the end of all of it, Verinia is always amazing for the views, the beer, the history, the cities, and the spectacular mountain drives.

On the way home I had to drive one of my bucket list roads.  The amazing drive through the Blue Ridge Parkway, with a stop off on one of the most beautiful overlooks ever.  At 3200 feet Raven's Roost Overlook was equal to the magnitude of awesomeness as The Alps were in France.  I have no pictures yet as we just got back, and my Go Pro camera that was on the car was aimed too low and recorded mostly my hood, and the road, but nothing more.

On trhe way home there was something strange and a little scary.  Watch the following video and listen to what the Blue Ridge Ranger was asking us.  This was at about 2400 feet elevation at a non-discript overlook. You Said What?!? Video.  The overlook had no gaurd rails, it was just a drop off from the road, at a very steep angle, and it went down, and down, and down.

NOW FOR E-CROSSER NEWS!

I have had some time to look it over now, and I was never completely satisfied with the design. After finishing the base frame out of balsa wood, I looked at it carefully, and had a thought.  I figured that it was much too heavy.  But more importantly, I was thinking that if I am going to build a car, I want something that looks like a race car, and looks cool.  Not a design that looks like it is made of scaffolding, I am a designer by trade so why not show that?

So, where else do I go for inspiration, but one of my favourite race series ever.  The World Endurance Championships.  You know, the series with multi-million doller factory prototypes from Audi and Toyota (and soon to be Nissan and Porsche), battling it out with privateers like Rebellion Racing.  This series is a platform for many new technologies, including electric vehicles, so I figured what better place for inspiration.

I've sketched out the rough design in 3D now and am about to work out the engineering.  See below.

The original E-Crosser was a good starting point, and I am going to be using many features from it, but I want the E-Crosser to be unique on the race track, something that will turn heads.

I increased the wheelbase to that of a Toyota Yaris, and the width is a smidgen larger.  So, this new E-Crosser will be a bit larger than the old version.  I may still increase the width a bit more for a more aggressive stance, with added cornering ability.

For the time being I'm sticking with light 15" X 7.5" rims with 225/45/15 tires.  They are light, plentiful, and cheap compared to the 245 width 17" tires.

Being a closed cockpit will allow for all weather use, or at least it will be a lot more comfortable in the rain compared to the open cockpit design.

The all new E-Crosser sketches are missing a bunch of things like a frame, doors, cockpit ventilation, and proper aero but the idea is there.

Here is the concept rear for the all new E-Crosser.  You can plainly see the inspiration from Rebellion Racing's LMP1 Car.

Now I need to start building the frame and shell in 3D and hopefully, I can build a 1/6th scale model by the end of the winter.

I'm excited about this new design.

Till next time.