THE BOOK
Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.
Seneca
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picture of the completed, finished book here.
When we finished the car, Larry requested we 304 stainless steel, the same alloy we used to make
write a book about the genesis of this project. As the the heat shields and exhaust. We heated the inlay
car was completely unique, I decided the book should up to 1300 degrees in our heat-treating oven, the
be unique as well. All the pictures in the book are temperature of exhaust gasses, to give the inlay the
the raw pictures—nothing was changed, hidden, or same color as the exhaust header tubes.
fabricated in Photoshop. The Kirkham logo is based around the tire marks
The book is representative of the car itself and left on the ground after a driver makes a three-point-
is a work of art which stands on its own. The front turn. If you look closely, even the tool paths of the end
cover of the book is highly polished aluminum—just mill overlap in the logo, just as if they were made by an
like the “cover,” or body, of the car. It is machined actual vehicle executing the turn. The brushed stripe
from the same aluminum alloy we used to make the on the left edge of the cover, refers to the racing stripes
chassis, 6061 T-6. The Kirkham logo is an inlay of on the car. The prototype car is reflected in the cover.
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Michelangelo’s famous quote alludes to
man’s creativity.
The front, inside cover of the book is CNC milled to look
like the machine work on the chassis.
From the beginning, I planned to create “little with careful eyes. The letters in the book were carved
details” throughout the chassis that would enhance with a 0.010” end mill. That is only slightly bigger than
the beauty and functionality of the car. Those details the thickness of the pages of this book. Such a tiny
would be seen only by those who truly searched for end mill is extremely fragile so we had to machine quite
them in the car. slowly. We spun the end mill at 10,000 rpms and were
If you were looking at the car for the first time, able to take a chip load of only 30 millionths of an inch.
you could not see all the pockets and machine work that The covers took 26 hours to machine.
went into the chassis to remove excess weight—unless Notice the little recesses we machined into the
you “opened” the hood. Just like the car, you can not far right edge of the cover to clear the head of the custom
see the machine work of the cover—unless you open binding bolts we made. Just like the car, everything had
the book. Careful, up close, observation is required to work seamlessly together. We machined the bolts to
to discover all the secrets of the car. In the center bind the book from 17-4 PH and heat treated them to
of the inside front cover, we machined Michelangelo’s H900. 17-4-PH is the alloy all critical parts on the car
famous quote, “I saw the angel in the marble and I were machined from. Their bronze color comes from
carved until I set him free.” The letters are barely the heat-treating (aging) process.
machined into the cover (only a few thousandths of an For the hinges of the book, we used 304
inch deep), and it is quite difficult to see them—further stainless bolts, the same alloy used in the heat shields
representing even more treasures to those who search and exhaust.
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Aluminum will “stress relieve” as it is machined and move
slightly. Because the letters were so delicately engraved
into the cover, they had to be machined immediately after
cutting the center pocket. Here Sandwich had to use a
depth gauge after initial machining to get the depth of the
end mill perfect.
The spine of the book.
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F=ma, Newton’s famous equation, E=1/2 mv 2 is the famous energy equation. hp=t x rpm/5250 is the horsepower equation
relating Force, mass, and acceleration, Notice Energy goes up with the square of relating torque to horsepower. Horsepower goes
is constantly in the engineer’s mind the velocity. High-revving motors have a up with RPM. Torque is mostly a function of
when designing a car. We machined tremendous amount of stress on the parts. the length of the arm on the crankshaft. If you
our favorite equations for mechanical increase the RPM, you increase horsepower.
engineering into the edges of the book. c=pd describes the circumference of a circle. This is why F1 engines spin up so high.
This is another fundamental equation used
F=-kx or Hooke’s law. Suspension in automotive design and engineering. More V=IR relates Volts, Amps, and Resistance. Early
engineers use the spring equation practically, it describes the circumference of in the project, we worked on designing an electric
to calculate spring rates for optimal a tire. car for Larry. This is the fundamental equation
handling. This equation relates Force to used in electricity.
a constant x displacement.
The hinge pins are made from 304
stainless steel bolts, the same bolts
used throughout the chassis.
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On the inside of the rear cover, we used stainless flat-head
screws to secure the leather-covered panels on the back
of the book. They are the same screws we used in many
places in the interior of the chassis.
The page-binding pins are made from 17-4 PH, the same
high-strength stainless steel used in critical applications
throughout the car. We heat treated the pins so they
matched the hubs.
We covered the back of the book with the same
leather used on the interior of Larry’s car.
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