How Johannes Langeder Constructed His Pedal-Powered Porsche & Ferrari
By Rain Noe - Oct 08, 2012
You may recognize the name Johannes Langeder; he's the Austrian artist who created a surprisingly faithful replica of a Porsche, and later a Ferrari, over a bicycle-powered frame. Top Gear viewers may remember Richard Hammond taking Langeder's "World's Slowest Porsche" for a spin around the track, and a video of the "Fahrradi Farfalla FFX" Ferrari knock-off swiftly racked up a million views on YouTube earlier this year.
While both cars received plenty of beauty-shot publicity showing their finished forms, what you may not have seen is how they were constructed. Langeder's loaded up his Flickr with construction shots of both the Porsche and the "Fahrradi," revealing how he solved the basic problem of creating a full-sized automobile form light enough to power with pedals. The frames were constructed of plastic tubing connected with lightweight packing tape:
Achieving the fidelity of form required both artistry and technical skillz. Langeder's obviously been born with or cultivated the former; as for the latter, he employed the same design trick we learned in Furniture Design or Automotive Design class of taking cross-sections of the model, then scaling them up.
The complicated nose end of the Ferrari looks like it got pretty gnarly.
Negative-space Shmoos supervised the process.
It's a testament to both Langeder and the Ferrari's original designers' skills that you can see so much "flow" even when the form is rendered in plastic tubing.
A sign from Langeder's shop has us scratching our heads. A little help from our German-speaking readership, please: "Take your time and do not live"? I assume we're mis-translating "Leben?"
Rain Noe
Rain Noe is a writer and industrial designer based in New York City.
7 Comments
-
It's "take your time, not your life". Although I have to say, even as a native German, I don't really get it.!Report as spam
-
Those are negative space Barbapapas, not Shmoos, supervising the build. But both are equally capable supervisors of such projects, so no worries.!Report as spam
-
The German sign was an advertisement campaign of a company running gas stations to promote road safety in the 50ies. It should be translated as "Drive slowly, don't risk your life!" as "sich das Leben nehmen" is German for committing suicide and "sich Zeit nehmen" means to perform something more slowly (i.e. take your time). As with many proverbs, Google Translate may not crack this one ;-) I hope that helps.!Report as spam
-
It's like "Take time and not your life", which means: don't rush to save your life while working with gasoline :)!Report as spam
-
It's more or less like this... "Take your time, but not your life" Meaning that you should take time for doing something, but by doing this you shouldn't leave other activities behind!Report as spam
-
It's "take your time, not your life". Although I have to say, even as a native German, I don't really get it.!Report as spam
-
Sign: "Take your time - and not [your] life!"!Report as spam
Continued Reading
-
By Brit Leissler - Oct 08, 2012
Vienna Design Week 2012: Passionswege: Matylda Krzykowski with Brush and Horn Manufactory
An unusual liaison of material and function: pan and brush made from horn and pig hair by bespoke craftsmen.The concept of the Passionswege ("pilgrimage ways") program—an integral part of Vienna Design Week—is to connect designers with local Viennese producers and businesses in order to enforce the exchange of expertise, the...
-
By Rain Noe - Oct 05, 2012
'Glassblowing the Brooklyn Way' Video
Last month we looked at neon light artist David Ablon and briefly mentioned Brooklyn Glass, the outerborough studio Ablon co-founded. The 4,000-square-foot facility boasts two furnaces and multiple shop areas, where everyone from experienced glassblowers to newbies taking their first class work the material. Now there's a new video showing...
-
By Rain Noe - Oct 02, 2012
Anton Willis' Oru Folding Kayak
Back in May, Maker Faire creator Dale Dougherty made a brief reference to an Anton Willis project in an article he wrote for us, "A New Wave of Hardware Innovation." Now we've got the full skinny: Willis, a designer based in San-Francisco, is shoring up final production for his folding...
-
By Rain Noe - Sep 27, 2012
Ford Continues Push into Greener Materials
Racing towards a greener future?Racing towards a greener future?Forest product company Weyerhaeuser is one of the largest in the world, managing over 20 million acres of woodlands with sustainable practices (like planting more than they're harvesting). In a promising trend, Ford has been collaborating with Weyerhaeuser to "prove out" a...
K
{Welcome
Create a Core77 Account
Already have an account? Sign In
By creating a Core77 account you confirm that you accept the Terms of Use
K
Reset Password
Please enter your email and we will send an email to reset your password.