24e Steering Wheel
The steering wheel is the driver’s primary connection to the car. I designed 24e’s to feel like an extension of the hand—intuitive and minimally distracting—while ensuring structural robustness, efficient packaging, and an elegant form.
Human Factors
DFM/DFA
CMF
Rapid Prototyping
Concept to Manufacturing
SolidWorks, Keyshot
Design Overview
Built up in layers
The wheel is built around a structural carbon-fiber plate with a honeycomb-Nomex core and a solid carbon hardpoint. A 10-pin electronic quick-disconnect communicates input from 4 buttons and regenerative braking paddles. 3D-printed enclosures, sealed with an O-ring, house electronics and provide ergonomic grip geometry.
Efficiently packaged components
Instead of conventionally enclosing the entire wheel, I focus around the small 50x30mm PCB and design a half-enclosure. This reduces mass, critical in race-car design, and allowed exploration of bolder wheel forms.Developing Driver Criteria
Empirically benchmarking 23e’s (previous car) wheel position to relate CAD to physical space relative to different drivers.
Wheel positioning
I conducted tests on previous cars and our ergonomics rig to establish how much the wheel could move relative to the driver, informing the geometry of the steering column, front roll hoop and dashboard, and other driver systems.
Leading discussions between stakeholders.
Essential controls on the steering wheel. Tactile controls for software tuning & testing on the dashboard.
Controls
I worked with drivers and software engineers to ensure quick access to key controls on the steering wheel and dashboard for easy mode testing during track sessions. The wheel contains essential buttons to reduce complexity and distractions on the road.
Design Process
Visualizing Ideas
Exploring form silhouettes with reference to component placements and clearances for compact packaging.
Rapid Prototyping
Hand-prototyping with foam to establish an intuitive feel for scale and proportion.
Ergonomic Feedback Studies
Assembling quick prototypes to work between CAD and the physical world from driver feedback. Asked questions about button accessibility, cutout tightness and thickness and, pain points and movement restrictions for different positions.
Embedded Textures and Detailing
Enclosures printed in Nylon 12 through SLS 3D printing. This process allowed a finer surface finish.Through a UV displacement map on Keyshot, I experiment with bump textures to avoid grip tape. Button labels, and our team’s logo was also embedded into the print to avoid flaky stickers.