The 'Splinter'

If you thought that a wooden car with a wooden body, wooden chassis and wooden wheels wooden go, then you couldn't be more wrong! Joe Harmon's twin supercharged, 4.6litre V8 engine wooden supercar can outrun most steel and/or aluminium supercars, running with an incredible top speed of 240mph; quite insane considering the unusual materials used for the construction of the various car components.

Supercars have always been constructed with a combination of aluminium and steel; the thought of using wood as the primary material for the making of such a car was regarded as a joke. Even though the 'Splinter' was created from medium-density fibreboard, maple and plywood, it is still relatively lightweight for a supercar, roughly weighing only 1.1 tonnes. Osage orange wood was used for the construction of the majority of the vehicle components since it was labelled the strongest wood in the US. It's great that it is also not the heaviest wood, making it usable even for such vehicles.

So, what does this vehicle tell us about the future of our supercars? Well, it certainly proves that with team of creative and innovative individuals, even the most futuristic designs can be made in real life using unlikely materials. Unfortunately, the 'Splinter' and other constructed wooden cars are most likely not heading towards mass production. Realistically, supercars in the future would be made from insanely lightweight but tough steel and aluminium and probably run on electricity; a unique wooden supercar like the 'Splinter' would be nothing more than a nice collector's item.