Carlos Salaff Project Caden

Project Caden is all about being inspired by vintage racing cars and expressed through modern design. I'm making an analog, connected, visceral car, but striving to create a new experience with those elements. I can't say the inspiration is just one thing. There's 60's F1 car in the nozzle nose and fuselage, Group C feel in the canopy and fenders etc. But there's also aircraft, architectural and other cues that I feel express a fresh language of performance.

 

I've shared some of the nuts and bolts of creating ‪‎Project Caden‬, But what about the ups and downs? What about the screaming and throwing of wheat bread across the room? In my latest blog post, buckle up for the grit and the silver lining.

GRIT + SILVER LINING

 

A lot to cover from the past few weeks. I visited Metcalf Racing--my chassis builder--and covered a lot.

First off his shop in Garland, Texas is composed of three large bays. Two of them are full of the most mouth-watering vintage racing cars. Truly a sight for the enthusiast. Robert's bread-and butter is restoring, rebuilding and racing these cars. In bay 3 is the Project Caden chassis. During the trip we discussed driver/passenger positioning, aerodynamics, suspension, rear subframe design, cooling and manpower. Regarding the latter, the most frustrating thing this year has been an unfortunate manpower loss at Metcalf. As a result my project progress has stagnated the first half of this year. There's an opening for an automotive or aviation/aerospace fabricator at Metcalf! That said, we'll find someone to pick it up and if I look at how far we've come since 2013 it's encouraging and exciting. We went over all that and more.

Here are some of the photos from my visit.
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This is the core Project Caden crew. On my right is Pete Jackson. He's the owner of Pete's Custom Coachbuilding and is spearheading Caden's bodywork crafting. On my left is Robert Metcalf. He's a wealth of racing knowledge(he wrote a great book on it) and is the head engineer/fabricator on Caden's chassis. During the visit. the three of us worked together to harmonize the design of the chassis and body. I had my computer on hand so that we could mock things up on the chassis in real space and immediately test clearance/fit against the bodywork digitally.
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Since returning from the Metcalf trip I half gone to work on interior development. Since I don't have the chassis yet with which to fit and test interior components, I went to town with the glue gun and cardboard and made a replica of Caden's tub. In industry speak this is called an "interior buck". When I begin milling out the instrument panel, door trim etc I will plug the parts into the buck and get everything working together in real space.
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In my latest blog post GRIT + SILVER LINING

I share some of the adversity that you'd expect when taking on a project of this scope. One of the silver linings however, has been the challenges serving as a catalyst to further develop the exterior design.

Here's the further developed front end, with updated fender tops which will allow under-fender pressure to escape through the inboard openings, reducing lift. Those subtle openings help give the front more planted haunches and reveal the central fuselage shape that weaves through the entire car.

Also of note is that after discussions with Robert Metcalf, we determined that the black area below the nose--the splitter--would better serve as an adjustable wing, giving more front downforce at high speeds.
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Thanks for the kind words, gents--I appreciate all of you.

 

Photos from the last couple of days of the interior buck. I mocked up the roll hoop structure and attached it to the tub. With hoops in and seated in the mockup, right off the bat I can see that the instrument panel and steering wheel should move forward from what's modeled digitally. That will require tweaks to the dash surfaces. I also see some exciting design opportunities as a result. More on that later.

Later in the day, the kids joined me as passengers. I'm pretty sure I heard them say "pretend driving with daddy is the best!
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Thanks Ryan,

The A-arms will be made of aerfoil- profile nickel-plated 4130. Just like the Indy cars you mentioned. A few posts back I showed an example from an Indy car.

 

Development work on Project Caden's interior buck. After mocking up and adding roll hoop structure and cowl, I printed and cut sections from the instrument panel that I had designed in the computer.

As I suspected, the driver controls and seat were positioned too far rearward for good use of space. As a result, the dash area is pretty much a rewrite, but that's why a fairly quick and inexpensive full-size mockup is so valuable and why car studios still make interior bucks. You learn a lot from it that you can't perceive in the computer.

I'm now onto designing an instrument panel that will work better with the true proportions. I spend time sitting in the driver's seat thinking with sketches and tape, mocking up ideas. Once I have a good "canvas" mocked up--the proportions of the new design modeled in cardboard--I'll pull the new dimensions back into the computer and refine the forms. From there I can confidently go on to mill some foam parts. The basic themes remain the same and I look to enhance them: Analog driver's controls, minimalist layout and expose the mechanical. Vintage racing values blended with modern design.
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The top photo shows various cardboard plan-view forms of the dash area that I've tried out in the interior mockup. The main objectives are to push the driver controls forward, lower the switchgear, keep air vents up high show off the suspension mechanisms.

The middle/bottom photos show the latest form study. It seems that it will hit on all points, so from this basic form I'll take measurements and plug them into the computer for form/detail development.
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Today I began modeling in the new instrument panel based on my findings in the interior mockup.

This design more closely follows the contours of the chassis front bulkhead, better using space. It also places switch gear lower--the switches will rest on the scalloped area on each side-- while keeping air vents up higher. Overall I'm very happy with how its form is pulling the elements together in a fluid way.
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Thanks Ryan!

Yes I'll be doing floor mats in the foot wells and various padding on the tub sides. Ultimately what I'm after is "raw but resolved".

 

Flashback photo from last summer on Project Caden.

Caden's bodywork awaits as we are back in gear completing the scratch-built chassis--the structure, engine, underpinnings beneath skin. The chassis is a mechanical work of art in itself and I'll have exciting details soon. As I shared in my most recent blog post GRIT + SILVER LINING we've had our fare share of trials this year, so i'm thrilled to be back at it!

For those who may be checking this thread out for the first time, Caden is about re-connection to the timeless values of visceral, involving, analog driving and handcrafted artistry. My vision is to take those vintage aspects that make driving thrilling and soulful, those qualities that give you goosebumps and express them through modern design.
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Mocking up door/roof sections for the Caden interior "buck". The buck helps prove out design ideas in real space before committing to the final build.
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Designing Project Caden's analog gauge faces. I'm inspired by the feel of vintage racing and aviation gauges, blended with modern typography. Caden is all about achieving that marriage of vintage soul and modern form.
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