[WIP] Hennessey Venom F5

[Jeroen Ottens]

Hi,

I'd like to present my first steps in the design of a 1:8 scale replica of the Hennessey Venom F5. This time I've started with the carban fiber chassis:

The plan is to try to stick to the original structure as much as possible. As is often the case I found that by following the original structure the LEGO equivalent is also stiff and sturdy. The combination of panels and frames make such stiff boxes that even the loss of the torsional strength of the A-pillars is not a problem.

The front wheels are really close to the front of this chassis, so the wheel wells are functional. They are a bit deeper than the real counterpart because of the ridiculous width of the LEGO wheels (then on the other hand, the steering angle in the LEGO model is probably a bit smaller than in the real car).

The dashboard is already detailed as well. With two big screens, and the double ventilators in the middle. I plan on using this part for the steeringwheel:

I even made a short video to show it from all sides :

 

Comments, critique and questions are appreciated as always

[efferman]

Looks very solid.

[LvdH]

That looks very rugged. Great idea with the steering wheel, that will fit much better then the round one. With the way everything seem to be built so far, are you going with a modular design approach? 

[jorgeopesi]

It is like I try to do always, it looks so good.

[T Lego]

Very happy to see a promising wip topic from you again! 

Great realistic monocoque design, it's one of the sections I like to put in a lot of effort as well. Have you got any ideas about functions and or colour scheme yet? I'd love to see it in yellow. I am also curious to know wether you will go for a modular chassis design. 

Looking forward to more progress! 

[Jeroen Ottens]

Thanks guys.
Modularity is on the wishlist. I was about to write that the front suspension would be difficult to build as a separate unit, but I just realized a way to do that anyway . So thanks for the nudge in that direction

Colourscheme will be lime on the outside, black and white in the interior and maybe some red accents.

Functions will be pretty standard:
- independent suspension
- steering via steeringwheel (maybe also removeable HoG)
- sequential gearbox (operated through a lever or knob in the back)
- butterfly doors (manual, hopefully with a springloaded mechanism inside the door)
Bonus function would be ride height adjustment

This design will be more than usual focused on replicating the shapes and structures on the inside of the bodywork. One of the downsides of that is that it is virtually impossible to route an axle from front to back. The central column of the monocoque is so thin that even a single axle is difficult.

 

[2GodBDGlory]

I like the use of 9L links for the windshield pillars. It seems like this is likely the best way to make a good-looking, but still structural, pillar.

[sm1995]

Amazing, it just looks so simple yet highly functional. I’m about halfway into a build right now but everything just feels so cluttered. 

I’m very excited to for future updates! 

[langko]

This is looking great, it’s nice to see WIP from experienced builders as it’s good to learn from. I like the wheel wells, that’s something you don’t really see in LEGO technic. The fact it’s so solid without much of a centre column and without being cluttered is awesome.

Looking at the photos of the real thing though http://hennesseyperformance.com/all-new-venom-f5-carbon-fiber-chassis/ 

I’m not 100% on the proportions of the windscreen area, the real one looks more rectangular

I look forward to future updates as well!

[MinusAndy]

This is the first time I’ve heard of this car. The back end looks like it will really lend itself to a Lego build. I’m Looking forward to seeing your progress. 

[Aleh]

At their start Hennessey were a tuning company, which concentrates on the high tuning and upgrades of Lotus (and maybe other) cars. So I wonder this particular model is their own development or also upgrade of any other manufacturer?
About the monococue - it's too early to say something, imo. 

[brunojj1]

The monocoque (not chassis btw.) looks promising, although I have my reservations regarding stiffness and as the OP mentionned - you can´t route any axles through it. The A-pillars are attached to the 13x3 bowed panels by the tow ball w/ cross axle. That means they aren´t attached on the front end and don´t contribute to the stability of the whole construction (?). But hey, we are in an early stage and I believe if somebody is capable to do anything neccessary to make it all happen, it´s Jeroen himself .

3 hours ago, Aleh said:

At their start Hennessey were a tuning company, which concentrates on the high tuning and upgrades of Lotus (and maybe other) cars. So I wonder this particular model is their own development or also upgrade of any other manufacturer?

They started a new joint venture to build this car. Their initial goal was to surpass the 300mph barrier and set a new world record as fastest production car. Now this has been achieved already by others and we are still waiting for the Venom F5 to be released. Nothing but talking and nothing to see so far, exept computer generated images on the net (which I like of course).

Edited March 7, 2021 by brunojj1

[T Lego]

1 hour ago, brunojj1 said:

he A-pillars are attached to the 13x3 bowed panels by the tow ball w/ cross axle. That means they aren´t attached on the front end and don´t contribute to the stability of the whole construction (?)

I am not sure If I understand you correctly, but it could have been solved by putting a bar inside the ball joint pin. By using ball joints you obviously don't constrain the roof from moving laterally. 

@Jeroen Ottens have you considered using 3x11 panels for the center tunnel? The downside is the asymmetrie - it will look different from the passenger's side compared to the driver's. Another option is to use 5x7 frames although this does compomise the look of the interior.

[Jeroen Ottens]

1 hour ago, brunojj1 said:

The monocoque (not chassis btw.) looks promising, although I have my reservations regarding stiffness and as the OP mentionned - you can´t route any axles through it. The A-pillars are attached to the 13x3 bowed panels by the tow ball w/ cross axle. That means they aren´t attached on the front end and don´t contribute to the stability of the whole construction (?). But hey, we are in an early stage and I believe if somebody is capable to do anything neccessary to make it all happen, it´s Jeroen himself .

They started a new joint venture to build this car. Their initial goal was to surpass the 300mph barrier and set a new world record as fastest production car. Now this has been achieved already by others and we are still waiting for the Venom F5 to be released. Nothing but talking and nothing to see so far, exept computer generated images on the net (which I like of course).

 

3 minutes ago, T Lego said:

I am not sure If I understand you correctly, but it could have been solved by putting a bar inside the ball joint pin. By using ball joints you obviously don't constrain the roof from moving laterally. 

@Jeroen Ottens have you considered using 3x11 panels for the center tunnel? The downside is the asymmetrie - it will look different from the passenger's side compared to the driver's. Another option is to use 5x7 frames although this does compomise the look of the interior.

Actually there is a 7x11 frame below the 3x13 panels. That frame is connected to the backplane with 11.5 double bent liftarms. I use this element to connect the 9L links with:

This fits inside a normal friction pin (at least until this year it did). So the 3x13 panels are mounted with friction pins. The roof with the links is definitely stiffer in bending than without the links, it is only in torsion (around any axis) that the links offer no added stiffness at all.

As for the 3x11 frame in the center: yes I have thought of it (I even started with that despite the annoying asymmetry of it), but one I had the dashboard in place I realized, that even if I would route an axle through, there would be no space behind the dash to do anything useful with that axle (although I now realize that I could use it for rideheight adjustment on both axles... hmm...). The 5x7 frames were my very first idea, but they are so oversized that that idea was very quickly abandoned.

[Aleh]

2 hours ago, brunojj1 said:

They started a new joint venture to build this car. Their initial goal was to surpass the 300mph barrier and set a new world record as fastest production car. Now this has been achieved already by others and we are still waiting for the Venom F5 to be released. Nothing but talking and nothing to see so far, exept computer generated images on the net (which I like of course).

Cool, thank you for the explanation, Sir!

[Jeroen Ottens]

Hi,

Time for an update again. First a picture of the rolling chassis. Both the front and the rear axle assembly are modular, so they can be attached to the monococue with a just few pins and axles. The gears that you see in the front are part of the ride height adjustment system. I haven't decided yet whether there will be a similar system in the back.

In the rear I have tried to replicate the beams and struts of the original car:

I am not sure that the black diagonal beams will do much given the amount of play that LEGO has, but the grey diagonals are in system and really add bending stiffness to the whole frame.

Finally I have been experimenting with the front bodywork. I was intending to use lime as the colour for the car, but I realized that with the smaller red mudguards I can make a wheel well that hugs the wheel more. It is tight (so tight in fact that I had to use axle- and pin-connectors to shave just a few millimeters of the edge of the wheel well), but the tires don't rub.

I am quite pleased with how the new triangle panels could be used to create those high rising mounts above the wheels. Red ones are on order, but LEGO B&P is not so fast these days. It makes it a bit difficult to judge how the lines will look when all the DBG is replaced with red. Maybe I'll need some more flexaxles to get better defined edges.

At the moment the front suspension is just a single hard shock per wheel. With the current bodywork that is still enough, but it does not feel very sporty now...
I used some big 5x11curved panels to get a closed floor behind the curve, but maybe I should make those black instead.

Comments and critique are welcome as ever.

Edited March 14, 2021 by Jeroen Ottens

[Lukes_Brick_Studio]

Wow, looks awesome, very cool use of the new triangle panels. I`am looking forward to your progress.

[LvdH]

Nice progress. The shaping so far looks pretty spot on if you ask me. My only gripe is that the middle portion is curved in real life. 

[Aleh]

Chassis looks robust!

Front looks beautifaul! Maybe making this car two colored is not a bad idea? COntrast between red and DBG may look new.

[Thirdwigg]

Great job on this so far. Thanks for showing us a little bit of your build process. While your finished MOCs are great, sometimes only showing the finished result makes me forget all the work, and decisions, that go into your final project.

[Robo-Knight]

If you make the instructions & parts list publicly available, I will buy this day one. This looks amazing.

What color will the interior be by the way? I'm only asking since I'm not sure if white's just a place holder or not.

Edited March 16, 2021 by Robo-Knight

[AFOLegofan66]

really like the look of this car!! very solid design.

[MY1]

nice design. Im very interested to see how the ride height adjustment will work. do the beams in the back actually provide a lot of structual support as they do in the real car 

[Jeroen Ottens]

On 3/14/2021 at 6:36 PM, LvdH said:

Nice progress. The shaping so far looks pretty spot on if you ask me. My only gripe is that the middle portion is curved in real life. 

Thx. You have a point, I'll see if I can make it more curved when I go back to this area later.

On 3/14/2021 at 8:31 PM, Aleh said:

Chassis looks robust!

Front looks beautifaul! Maybe making this car two colored is not a bad idea? COntrast between red and DBG may look new.

It is . Interesting idea, but I'll first try to make it in lime

On 3/15/2021 at 6:44 PM, Thirdwigg said:

Great job on this so far. Thanks for showing us a little bit of your build process. While your finished MOCs are great, sometimes only showing the finished result makes me forget all the work, and decisions, that go into your final project.

Thx, it is nice to do a WIP topic. The feedback helps with seeing what I don't see anymore.

On 3/16/2021 at 1:16 AM, Robo-Knight said:

If you make the instructions & parts list publicly available, I will buy this day one. This looks amazing.

What color will the interior be by the way? I'm only asking since I'm not sure if white's just a place holder or not.

I haven't decided yet whether the model will become publicly available. The interior will be black/white I think. So far I only used 2 different elements and that already restricts the colourpalette to white, DBG or some very bright coloured interiors.

9 hours ago, MY1 said:

nice design. Im very interested to see how the ride height adjustment will work. do the beams in the back actually provide a lot of structual support as they do in the real car 

I'm not sure yet whether the weight of the car will collapse the front suspension, so I first want to check that before I commit to the ride height adjustment method I have now.

Here is today's update:

I changed the bodycolour to lime as per the original idea. The wheel arches are wider now because of that. I also designed a door with hinge. It doesn't have a spring loaded mechanism in yet and the space is really small, so that will be a challenge. Also there is still some volume conflict at the back end of the door when it is being opened, but I am quite pleased with the looks (and sturdyness) so far. What I am especially pleased about is that I was able to build a hinge that is strong, stiff and keeps the door exactly in system despite the angled hinge.

 

[Aleh]

Wow, these new arches make everything automatically look 2 levels better!