Westfield Aero Concept
Avant Garde
A dramatic single seater with a longitudinally mounted Internal Combustion engine.
The Brief
This package allowed a lot of freedom and led to dramatic proposals. The brief was supplied by Elliot Hawkins, designer at Westfield cars. The project was completed in two stages, the first part was to design three seperate vehicles based upon three key words, Avantgarde, Beauty and Aerodynamics. Each came with its own distinct package. The second stage was to refine one of those designs as a group while respecting the choices and decisions of the client (Westfield, as represented by Elliot). Further design work was divided within the group and as the project progressed my primary responsibility were the CAD model and the package drawing. Our group, team Aerodynamic, went on to be chosen as winners through being the ‘best organised and most harmonious team.’
Beauty
Aiming for purity of form, this was based on a mid engined package with a transversely mounted Internal Combustion engine and a set windscreen position. An enjoyable package to work on.
Aerodynamic
A track car based upon the iRacer platform which inlcudes a conventional tubular Westfield chassis and an electric powertrain. This proved to be the most difficult to package.
Sketch development
Stage 1 Proposal
Beauty This proposal for a classically proportioned compact sportscar included a distinct central feature running from a light cluster in the forn facia through to a division in the air intake mounted behind the doors. It also displayed a long sculpted rear deck and a dramatic Gandini inspires truncated rear wheel arch
Avant Garde
This proposal for a classically proportioned compact sportscar included a distinct central feature running from a light cluster in the forn facia through to a division in the air intake mounted behind the doors. It also displayed a long sculpted rear deck and a dramatic Gandini inspires truncated rear wheel arch
Avant Garde
Chosen themes
A winged theme was chosen with a tight central pinch, the proposal to the right took the aircraft/podracer inspiration a step furtherwith the wide front section inspired by aircraft canards.
Beauty The theme for Beauty was clean and simple. The sketches pictured right developed the theme further by concentrating on reducing the visul weight of the carand making it appear longer and leaner.
Aerodynamic Interestingly the theme chosen for Aerodynamic was originally penned as an Avant Garde proposal. At this stage a hard top was a selected as a requirement but was later dropped due to its inelegance. The split rear wing pictured above, also in Avant Garde, made its way across to this package too.
Sketch development
Stage 2 Proposal
Selection Key themes from this ‘Beauty’ proposal were selected for the final design, namely the profile and the pinched waist.
Team Aerodynamic Sketch Model
Sketch development
Package and Clay
Alias Model
Over the last 6 months we’ve been running a sponsored design project with Swansea Metropolitan University, my old college. We split the students into three different groups, Avant Garde, Aerodynamic and beauty. Three very different packages were provided for the each group. The students had to learn to work as a group and were given specific roles by course lecturer, Sergio Fontanarosa. I visted the students three times during the project to check on progress. On the final visit, Sergio, his colleague Paul Morrow, and myself selected the winning group, which was the team Aerodynamic. Team aerodynamic were chosen as the winning group as it was felt they were the best organised and most harmonious team. They had the Iracer package to design around, which was the trickiest to achieve and elegant solution with. -Elliot Hawkins
Designer, Westfield (Elliothawkins.blogspot.co.uk)