MAX Update No. 45: Body-Building Time Crunch

Reader Contribution by Staff
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Way back in the first MAX article (Here Comes the 100-mpg Car) we showed a photo of a Lola Mk 1 race car, circa 1960, as my inspiration for MAX’s future streamlined body.

Why is a 50-year-old race car more inspirational than a modern race car? Because by the mid-1960s, racers had enough horsepower that sticking to the ground became more important than streamlining and so race cars started developing scoop noses and wings and the like. Before then, road racing aerodynamics was all about slipping through the air and getting down the straightaway fast. Afterward, it was mostly about pressing the tires firmly against the asphalt and getting around the corners fast.

Then I found myself bumping up against budget restrictions (our target for MAX is 100 mpg for $10,000). Then my shop got burgled (see MAX Update No. 36) and we lost all our Rhino documents (3D drawings in digital form). So I looked into simpler bodies, circa 1930 instead of circa 1960. All of this has been covered in various MAX Updates, and the Tank was going to be my winter project.

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