[HN Gopher] Home-built Bugatti replica [video]
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Home-built Bugatti replica [video]
        
       Author : jnord
       Score  : 137 points
       Date   : 2022-02-08 11:57 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.youtube.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.youtube.com)
        
       | orliesaurus wrote:
       | Very creative, but quality control of a Tesla model 3. /s
        
       | throwawayffffas wrote:
       | Good for them, I was hoping for something more akin to the guy
       | that build an iphone from parts he bought in Shenzhen.
        
         | mcast wrote:
         | Strange Parts?
        
       | Gravityloss wrote:
       | Great work. Why not wear gloves? Fiberglass gets in your skin and
       | if epoxy is used, you might get sensitized to it. They might have
       | used some other glue. At least they were wearing masks.
        
       | jcims wrote:
       | Really great series on making fiberglass molds from a live
       | pattern/part to crank out laminate (carbon fiber or fiberglass)
       | copies. Seems like they could do that with this pretty easily,
       | not sure if there is a market but it's a great start:
       | 
       | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgKvDw1E60E&list=PL-DQ6gqgQv...
       | 
       | (The channel is fantastic if you have any interest in making
       | carbon fiber parts. The guy does great and very practical demos
       | and they have some very good products for small batch/hobbyist
       | projects. I just wish they would sign with a distributor in the
       | US)
        
         | [deleted]
        
       | camillomiller wrote:
       | Amazing ingenuity, but I'm scared by the amount of chemicals
       | they've collectively inhaled.
        
         | blamazon wrote:
         | The skill displayed with the "eyes closed while the arc is hot"
         | welding technique is both impressive and concerning.
        
           | jcims wrote:
           | aka safety squints
        
       | alamortsubite wrote:
       | Equal parts terrifying and impressive. If I worked in PR at
       | Bugatti I'd ship these guys a case of eye protection and
       | respirators.
        
       | bityard wrote:
       | I only watched part of it because it reminded me more of those
       | cake-decorating videos than actually engineering and building a
       | car.
       | 
       | If you actually want to see someone (re)build a car from (nearly)
       | scratch, check out Bad Obsession Motorsport. You'll laugh, you'll
       | cry, you'll get the funk out.
        
       | megraf wrote:
       | Very impressed by the tolerances achieved, it's inspirational.
       | The headlamps also look exceptional. Given that these guys are
       | working with pretty primitive means of fabrication, this is a
       | great attempt!
        
         | netsharc wrote:
         | The video shows them unboxing the pair of headlights out of a
         | box with Chinese characters on it[1]. It made me look on
         | AliExpress to see if they sell knock-off Bugatti headlights.
         | Actually they sell look-alikes for other cars, e.g. a Honda
         | Civic [2], so I guess these guys looked hard to find shapes
         | that match the original.
         | 
         | [1] https://youtu.be/bwUnIN5RLm0?t=1379 [2]
         | https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003214053321.html
        
       | nixass wrote:
       | This still has better build quality and panel gaps than Tesla
       | cars.
        
       | jacquesm wrote:
       | Nothing short of amazing, an extremely small budget made up for a
       | very large dose of ingenuity and craftsmanship, what's not to
       | like?
        
       | olivermarks wrote:
       | I'm a big fan of people building vehicles - I do - but there's a
       | hot rodding expression 'beautiful deathtrap'.
       | 
       | People build aesthetically attractive vehicles, often with very
       | powerful engines, spend a fortune on paint and visuals but there
       | are lots of potentially deadly mechanical single points of
       | failure.
       | 
       | Some of these vehicles are mostly trailer queen show cars, but
       | the ones that are driven a lot often need some safety work. I
       | know of a socal shop that fixes high end customs designed by TV
       | show car personalities so they are actually driveable
       | 
       | Uncle Tony's garage showing some scary hacks video:
       | https://youtu.be/a-DfxrEnDsI
        
         | throwaway0a5e wrote:
         | For every genuine safety hazard there's dozens of people
         | complaining about stuff that just isn't. Seems like safety is
         | just the trojan horse that the "you shouldn't have modified
         | anything it was perfect the way the factory built it" people
         | use to get past the gate these days (not saying you're one of
         | those people).
         | 
         | I skimmed the video. I didn't see anything particularly out of
         | line. Their metal fabrication wasn't great but it's fine for
         | what they're building and frankly where they're building it
         | (don't get me wrong, that suspension is a kludge but they
         | probably don't have enough car to break it).
         | 
         | I like to see stuff attached to fiberglass anchored better and
         | over more area but I'm no expert on fiberglass so I don't have
         | a good feel for what you can get away with and what they did
         | was as good as what you see on boats.
        
           | olivermarks wrote:
           | I think you missed my broader point. I wasn't particularly
           | criticizing this Bugatti emulation, I was making a broader
           | point about people building aesthetically pleasing vehicle,
           | because looks are everything to most people, and skimping on
           | the mechanicals.
           | 
           | This emulation looks like a film prop vehicle and they were
           | very clever in how they created it. I did a metal bashing
           | workshop with Gene Winfield (now 94 years old and going
           | strong) last fall, a famous car customizer and builder of a
           | lot of Hollywood vehicles including the Bladerunner vehicles.
           | He was very clear on what was for visuals and what had to
           | actually work and go down the road.
        
             | throwaway0a5e wrote:
             | This will go down the road just fine though. The tiny
             | little diesel will make it go but won't break their ghetto
             | CV extension. Those small car calipers and plate brake
             | rotors will let it stop just fine (probably better than
             | you'd think since they're so big). The structural stuff is
             | ugly, overbuilt and heavy. The design isn't the greatest
             | (lol what even is triangulation) but they make up for it in
             | metal well enough that they probably won't be able to hurt
             | it. What it won't do is perform as well as it looks. Don't
             | expect to track it with that tiny little engine and
             | questionable (in the most literal sense of the word, they
             | probably don't even know their numbers) suspension
             | geometry.
        
         | deltaonefour wrote:
         | For true safety you really need mass production as you need
         | several "copies" of the car for crash testing.
        
           | olivermarks wrote:
           | The best practice IMO is to modify cars (or components of
           | cars) that have already gone through that testing. I use
           | first gen Jaguar suspension modules that work in most project
           | cars and provide superb ride, steering geometry and brakes
           | for example. I am very opposed to restricting vehicles to
           | those the authorities have rubber stamped because there are
           | some truly awful and dangerous mass produced cars out there.
        
         | Justin_K wrote:
         | These guys are welding and using angle grinders without any
         | face / eye protection. There is a different set of safety
         | standards in their country.
        
           | Ralo wrote:
           | I had red hot metal flake land on my eye once. Even while
           | wearing safety glasses (the type without the side shields).
           | When I went to the hospital, the nurse was extremely
           | concerned if I could see anything because of how red/puffy my
           | eyes were.
           | 
           | After a 12 hour wait, the doctor had to use metal tweezers
           | and dig it out of my eye. Absolutely terrifying. He said
           | there was rust residue that needs to be removed and would
           | need to go the specialized eye center where they would need
           | to use a specialized drill.
           | 
           | After that, I double up on everything. Not worth it.
        
             | burnt_toast wrote:
             | Wow, sorry to hear you went through that. I do a lot of
             | metal fab (hobbyist) and that is basically my worst
             | nightmare.
        
               | olivermarks wrote:
               | Agree, you can't be too careful, especially when you are
               | frustrated and about to cut corners to save time
        
             | PretzelPirate wrote:
             | You left out the most important part - is your eye ok now?
        
           | tehwebguy wrote:
           | Yeah that is pretty upsetting to see, they are potentially
           | doing permanent damage to their eyesight. Presumably someone
           | is paying for all of this but isn't paying for eye
           | protection?
        
       | DocTomoe wrote:
       | This is very similar to how car body design prototypes were built
       | until the mid-1980s, when CAD become the master of prototyping. A
       | quick photo search for "car body design clay" yields fascinating
       | pictures.
       | 
       | https://www.carbodydesign.com/media/2014/07/Opel-Russelsheim...
        
       | hindsightbias wrote:
       | Disappointed they did not forge their own engine like those
       | foundry shops in India. /s
       | 
       | Made a disk wheel for a Bugatti, but the brakes look like they're
       | from a Corolla.
        
         | [deleted]
        
       | lariati wrote:
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | ynorzinum wrote:
        
       | flal_ wrote:
       | This french dude has been building a GT40, documenting everything
       | along the way on its youtube channel :
       | https://www.youtube.com/c/BenjaminWorkshop ( in french )
        
       | marban wrote:
       | Slightly cooler, this guy lived next to me and I saw him riding
       | around his Duct Tape 911 all the time.
       | 
       | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5vlqWln7do
        
         | mysterydip wrote:
         | Saw videos of that car at the time and would love to know more
         | details and some experiences!
        
       | samwillis wrote:
       | About 15 min into the video and its giving be strong memories of
       | a book I was given as a kid:
       | 
       | "Build Your Own Sports Car for as Little as PS250" by Ron
       | Champion
       | 
       | https://www.amazon.co.uk/Build-Your-Sports-Little-PS250/dp/08...
       | 
       | It includes all plans and instructions on how to build a Lotus 7
       | style car from scratch using a Ford Escort Mk 3 as the donor car.
       | 
       | Always dreamt of one day doing it.
       | 
       | I believe it created a whole mini industry of workshops
       | manufacturing components for amateurs to buy if they wanted to
       | skip a step. There was/is a racing series for them too.
        
         | jermaustin1 wrote:
         | The Lotus 7 is one of my favorite sports car designs. Caterham
         | has done a great job of making these modern and bringing them
         | to America.
        
           | samwillis wrote:
           | Love the Caterham 7, one day when the kids have left home the
           | plan is to convince the wife building one is a good way to
           | keep me out of the house. Amazingly our house has an
           | inspection pit in the garage crying out to be used.
        
       | baltimore wrote:
       | Obviously, legislation to prohibit these untraceable and
       | dangerous ghost automatic super-cars is called for!
        
       | petermcneeley wrote:
        
         | plasticsoprano wrote:
         | What is sad and pathetic exactly?
        
           | elliottkember wrote:
           | They think the car's body is made of clay, not fibreglass,
           | because they only watched the first minute.
        
             | petermcneeley wrote:
             | I was aware they used fiberglass. I was not aware that they
             | removed the clay from under the fiberglass. This makes the
             | car far lighter than it would be as I imagined. However
             | unless a Bugatti is made out of fiberglass this is still
             | just a Facade. Even if they made the body out of the proper
             | material, does this have a Bugatti engine? What about it
             | makes it a Bugatti?
        
               | renewiltord wrote:
               | Damn, I think you've cracked the case. Now I'm pretty
               | sure this would lose in any race against a Bugatti.
               | 
               | Also, now that you've mentioned it, I think they don't
               | have original Bugatti windscreen wipers.
               | 
               | Every car aficionado knows that these distinctive
               | elements reveal a real replica from a fake.
        
               | nwsm wrote:
               | What is it you want? Should they have gone to a Bugatti
               | factory and asked Bugatti engineers to make them one?
               | What would be the point?
        
         | jggonz wrote:
         | I'm going to engage because there's nothing pathetic about
         | these guys.
         | 
         | I bet many people said people like "Thomas Edison", "The Wright
         | brothers", and "Steve Wozniak" were "sad and pathetic" like you
         | say as they tinkered on their projects.
        
         | [deleted]
        
       | kingkawn wrote:
       | Brilliant work
        
       | dncornholio wrote:
       | Something tells me this wouldn't survive much rain. Lack of
       | close-ups makes me suspicious how good this build really is.
        
         | netsharc wrote:
         | The last 2 minutes has a "walkaround". You can see some cracks
         | near the door handle, guy opens the fuel filler cap and it's
         | hilarously unpainted on the inside, and it's held closed using
         | a cabinet door magnet.
        
         | kingkawn wrote:
         | Are you kidding they did this from nearly nothing
        
         | Hamuko wrote:
         | There's some close-ups, but it doesn't really look that great
         | in the far shots either. Uncanny valley territory.
        
       ___________________________________________________________________
       (page generated 2022-02-09 23:02 UTC)