In a world first, the next model to be produced by Caterham Cars will be created online by the public.
In collaboration with Project Splitwheel, the manufacturer of the legendary Seven is offering every car enthusiast - irrespective of any engineering skill, design experience or mechanical ability - a dream opportunity to design an all-new sports car.
To be part of automotive history, people can join Project Splitwheel from its dedicated website, http://www.splitwheel.com/. From here, members from all over the globe are able to submit ideas and concepts for every single aspect of the new Caterham and discuss and debate them with other users, before ultimately voting on what makes it to the final vehicle.
Initial registration for this revolutionary venture is now open, with the project set to start in earnest early in 2009.
The Splitwheel website will use a combination of articles, blogs, forum discussion, a Wikipedia-style user-edited knowledge base and a comprehensive voting system to turn user input into a workable vehicle design. Along with acting as a liaison with Caterham’s engineering team, Project Splitwheel - the brainchild of automotive consultant Piers Drake, 31, from London - will also provide guidance and input from automotive industry experts as required.
Splitwheel will also factor increased environmental pressures by exploring alternative methods of propulsion, such as electric and hybrid, and crucially their desirability to drivers. Once the specification is agreed, Caterham Cars will seek to produce a prototype vehicle which could become an addition to its model range as early as 2011.
Starting from a blank sheet of paper and with very few restrictions in place, the result should be an exciting and truly unique performance vehicle.
As an added incentive to participants, Splitwheel and Caterham will offer plenty of opportunities to get ‘hands-on’, with members test driving and possibly even racing the development car.
Membership to the project is free and open to anybody passionate about performance cars.
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