If you missed the Brink TV show last week, or it's not part of your standard cable package (grrrr), you can still see the program about MAX, captain Jack McCornack and the victory in the Escape from Berkeley race. Visit the Brink video page and click "Brink Package: Escape from Berkeley" if the page doesn't load with that video.

If you're not familiar with our MAX project, read the introductory article, Here Comes the 100-mpg Car and browse through the MAX Updates. For more about the Escape from Berkeley Race, read MAX Wins 800-mile Race, without Gas.

It's too darn cold to go in the shop, and I have a lot of work to do. To hit our goal of 100 miles per gallon, we have to get MAX's drag down by about a third, and the only way to get there is streamlining. And to hit my personal budget goal (I want MAX to be a car you can reproduce at home for less than $10,000), MAX needs a simple body.

Jack McCornack

The practical problem with a slick sleek full fiberglass body is it's going to blow the budget — maybe not for me, 'cause I've built car bodies before and I'm willing to pay myself 35 cents an hour to build another one, but the Michelangelo technique (take a big rock and knock off everything that doesn't look like David) works better on paper than it does in practice. A full body from a commercial fiberglasser is going to cost at least few thousand, and if you don't live on the West Coast, how are you going to get it home? So we're going to try simple first ... or to quote Albert Einstein, “as simple as possible, but no simpler.”

The idea is fiberglass fenders — which have to be a bit complicated — with complex curves to direct the air over and around them, joined together by sheet metal body panels with simple curves. And thanks to the miracle of modern technology, I can work out the details in a warm house instead of a cold shop.

This particular miracle is Rhinoceros, a 3D modeling program with a funny name. When I build a real body to match the electronic/virtual body, I'll know the parts fit before I fit them.

Another advantage of working electronically ... you remember a couple months ago when I mentioned the crew from the Science Channel shooting a Brink segment about us? It'll be on tomorrow (Friday, Jan. 30), and they wanted some graphics right away of what MAX will look like when it's done. Well, maybe it'll look like this, kinda. Except with a roof.

P.S. I saw an ad for the Brink episode and it looks like it'll be fun. To look up when it will show in your neck of the woods, visit the Brink website.

Browse previous MAX Updates.

Read the introductory MAX article, Here Comes the 100-mpg Car.

Visit the Kinetic Vehicles website for more technical details on MAX.

Wow, I'll tell you, the only people crazier than camera people are stunt performers ... and that's not by much.

Last week, we had a crew from the Science Channel at the shop (which is why you're not getting the promised wind-tunnel-without-a-wind-tunnel update 'till next week), shooting a piece for Brink.

PHOTO BY DAVE LEVISON

What's Brink? Beats me, I've never seen it. I don't get cable and besides, the series isn't on yet. From what they tell me, it's about people and things on the brink of scientific achievement. MAX is just the sort of thing they're looking for, so they ended up on our doorstep.

It appears the show is rather personality-driven, and the ideal personality for Brink is a low-budget mad scientist. I'm good for two out of three (I'm still a little weak on the 'scientist' part), so I fit right in.

Plus, I'm game and cooperative. So when they told me to stand by the car and look “seriously cool,” I gave it my best and didn't laugh. I was a fully poseable action figure, and in exchange, they let me talk about MAX and why we’re building it.

And then we went off to show how much fun MAX is to drive, with the camera woman in the passenger's seat. We hit some back roads and went zipping around in fine sports car style, until she decided she could shoot better from on top of the car. I agreed, but refused to zip, which is why those particular shots are going to look a tad reserved.

Next, she wanted highway shots from the front, which she took by sitting on the trunk of Dave's Miata while I tailgated in MAX. She took it all in stride, but I was sweating, hoping Dave hadn't waxed his car recently and wondering how quickly I could hit the brakes if she started sliding my way. Apparently this is the norm in show biz, but if a police officer had wandered by we would all have been written up for Acting Stupid in or About a Motor Vehicle. Need I add, kids, don't try this at home?