Project Flake Concept Car

The Project Flake concept car is one of the most original designs to drop into our inbox over the past six years. It’s creator, Da Feng, has a habit of designing highly conceptual vehicles, and his previous work includes the GYM Concept Car which we featured back in 2008.

Project Flake was born out of an idea to create a futuristic car which seemed more like a living, breathing creature, than a contemporary supercar. Da wanted his vehicle to have movement and emotion encapsulated within the styling. To achieve this, Project Flake’s bodywork is made up from a multitude of small panels which can open and close to manage the airflow. The fragmented body panels give the car the appearance of being covered in fur – while also acting as air brakes when needed, or providing additional downforce. When the car travels at speed, the body shell morphs into a smooth sculptural shape to help it slip through the air.

However it’s not just the body work of Project Flake that features a unique solution. The car rides on D-shaped wheels – which at first glance look a bit like flat tires! Sensors mounted at each wheel arch track the ground in real time, and the tires then mold themselves to match the floor to provide maximum contact area and grip.

All movable systems on Project Flake (bodywork and wheels) are all controlled through a puppeteering system composed of super strong nano-tube cables and electromagnetic solenoids, which can also track the pressure on each component and adjust their position dynamically for maximum performance.

The car is built primarily out of carbon fiber, and is powered by a synthetic fuel.

Obviously the technology of today is a few years, or even decades, behind Da’s imagination for now. But all that does is highlight what a clever and ambitious concept Project Flake is.

If you’re still confused as to how Project Flake works, then take a look at the incredibly well rendered video embedded below. It should clear up any questions you have!