BMW\'s new Material Car Gina

Tag : Water-Repellent Fabric
BMW's new Material Car Gina Light Fantastic - BMW's GINA Skin and bones have worked well for Homo sapiens for millennia, sowhy not clothe a car's frame in skin-like fabric? The brightestbrains in design at BMW put their thinking caps on. When BMW designers and engineers pondered how they would design acar for the first time if they were starting in the 21st centuryand not re-using concepts from the 19th, the result was somewhatsurprising, intriguing and potentially industry-leading.

Some of the questions revolved around 'what ifs'.

What if the car of tomorrow doesn't need a stamped metal bodyshell? What if the body shell can reconfigure its silhouette on themove? What if the seats can close around each individual driver togive them maximum comfort and maximum protection?

Some of these questions spoke to the heart of car making.

If you don't need to build expensive presses to stamp out bodypanels unique to each model of car, can you build a wider varietyof models to better suit the customers?

If you can reshape the body on the move, what effect does that haveon the amount of energy needed to propel the vehicle, its travelingrange or its ultimate performance?

Stamped metal exterior panels alone don't dictate the level ofsafety a vehicle can offer occupants, so if a space frame can dothe job as well, if not better, as in race cars, why shouldn'tflexible textile body replace steel or aluminum?

Traditionally, car makers expose customers to radical new ideas viathe time honored Motor Show Concept Car. Not this time.

The BMW GINA Light Visionary Model is a lot more than just youreveryday concept car (GINA stands for Geometry and Functions in 'N'Adaptations - N meaning 'infinite').

In an industry where new concepts invariably turn out to berehashes of old ideas, GINA engenders some excitement about thingsthat go beyond future styling, power train and packagingdevelopments. The GINA Light Visionary Model utilises fabric toclothe a structure that, as well as being able to change its shapewhen required, also dispenses with many of the shut lines and paneljoints that bisect the traditional car and detract from the purityof its looks.

GINA is based on a two-seat roadster format but there, as far asregular body structures are concerned is where it ends. There is nofront apron, no bonnet and no boot lid, while conventional sidepanels, doors and wheel arches disappear into a homogenousfour-piece whole.

The outer skin of the body is made of flexible, highly durable andextremely expansion-resistant fabric stretched over a structuralmetal framework.

The material is hybrid fabric with a stabilizing mesh nettingsupport and an outer layer that is both water-repellent andresistant to high and low temperatures. Functioning, in some ways,like the skin on our bodies, it has normal hinged doors, but theleading edges flow into the front mudguards without any sign of aseam. Instead, the fabric skin wrinkles as the door opens andsmoothes as it is closed. The bonnet over the engine compartment iseven more intriguing as it virtually peels aside like skin on aripe fruit to expose the mechanical innards.

Attending to aerodynamics is something GINA does well. At the rear,the profile of the car changes as speeds rise to increase downforce, then resumes its original shape when coming to rest. The BMWgrille opens and closes to control the cooling air to the enginewhile the rocker panels contort into various shapes depending onaerodynamic dictates. The headlights remain half-closed untilswitched on, at which point they peer from under sinister-lookingeyelids, while the tail-lights are concealed beneath the fabriccovering and only become visible through the translucent fabricwhen needed.

Inside, functional elements are kept to an absolute minimum, whilethe car remembers the driver and passenger's contours on seats thatdon't really look like seats until occupied. Then they reshape tomaximise comfort and safety by altering the cushion profiles andraising the headrests. At the same time, the steering wheel andinstrument panel also move into the correct place, all controlledby a transducer that stores information on optimal positions.

There is one thing that will be familiar to BMW owners - GINA'sengine is started or stopped by pushing a button.

There was never a more organic car than the GINA Light VisionaryModel. And there will most likely never be anything quite like iton the road - although some of the seemingly outlandish ideas theproject has presented could one day be found on the productionline; a production line that would be changed beyond recognitiondue to the new systems required to build a car such as this.

Comments:
Although this is a very interesting concept, how safe is it?
Maybe this brings us that little bit closer to thinking outside thebox when it comes to cars, who knows maybe they will invent arubber car, that could illuminate damage and accidents for good!