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wefunk goes F1

Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2007 11:21 am
by Alex Luxat
I haven´t logged in here for a long time -- sorry for the unanswered PMs.


As of october 15th I´ll be a member of the composite layup team of Toyota Motorsports, building the 2008 F1 race car.

As of now I don´t take any custom orders but will use the remaining weeks to use up some of my stocked material building bonecore downhill racing decks.
I´ll offer the built decks on silverfishlongboarding.com as they are.
Please don´t PM or mail for decks now but wait for what I´ll offer.

That doesn´t mean the end of wefunk but another step in my life and the opportunity to learn more about composite design and construction than I could ever have dreamed.
That´s the ultimate king´s class of civilian composite works.
The skateboard production is then on hold for indeterminate time.

When touring the workshops I felt like a crude butcher amongst brain surgeons.
Working with pre-cut prepregged carbon which gets baked in the autoclave is a TOTALLY different game compared to the possibilities I had so far.
The quality you get when done properly is OUT OF THIS WORLD.
So stoked that I´ll be a part of this.

Thank you for your support during the last years that have seen lots of ups and downs for me and the wefunk brand.

Alex Luxat

Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2007 12:38 pm
by Carsten Pingel
good luck ......for both! Toyota and Alex! :-)

Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2007 1:10 pm
by Jani Soderhall
Very cool Alex!

/Jani

Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2007 2:26 pm
by HUYNH BACH SAC Frédéric
Congrats and good luck for this new adventure Alex !!!

Congrat

Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2007 4:08 pm
by Robert Sydia
Alex:

Amazing opportunity for you - enjoy every minute of it!!!

All the best,

Rob

Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2007 4:19 pm
by YOYO SHULTZ
Alex!
That sounds truly great.
Endless opportunities for you, very nice!!!

Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2007 4:37 pm
by Wesley Tucker
Alex,

Have you been involved with a racing team before?

I don't know whether to offer congratulation or condolences.

All I will say is you are about to enter a world unlike anything else you've ever experienced . . . unless of course you've done it before.

Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2007 12:24 am
by Stephen Lavin
Hey, I think C Nova used to fab for Toyota F1? Chris you out there??

Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2007 4:06 am
by Tod Oles
Good luck Alex!!

Crap, I can't fabricate a lie let alone a monocoque??

Yo Lavin, I still have one of C-nova's books, "Successful composite techniques" by Keith Noakes.

I think it would be a great read...............if I could read.........

Nice pictures though!!!

How ya been?

Posted: Sat Sep 29, 2007 10:14 am
by Alex Luxat
Thank you very much for the congrats.

No, I haven´t been involved in a racing team.
I am prepared to work a 50-60h week now in the winter (working shifts).
That is no problem for me as long as the task is demanding and asks for highest concentration and precision.
It won´t be worse than the last 1/2 year I did as a lamp designer (before wefunk), sitting 8h/day in an office chair with no or just stupid tasks at hand.
That let me slump down first mentally and then physically leading to severe back problems and a whole range of psychosomatic illness (stiff neck, sour stomach, etc.).
THAT was hell. Just sitting around won´t happen at Toyota -- that´s for sure!

This move now happens just at the right time (for me):
I was doing the bonecores now for two years and though I have new Ideas I don´t have the technical means to let them become real. I would have had to either invest into a completely new workshop and presses (out of the question) or move to the US and join a skate + snowboard company (which didn´t work out). Both would have been huge financial risks putting me further into debt and wouldn´t have helped me in short or mid-term to put my family together again.
Now the pieces are coming together nicely and I know that the last years with wefunk made a lot of sense.

Of course I hope to make a comeback at some point in the future with my then newly acquired knowledge. Time will show.

But for sure I´ll be on a skateboard as long as my already f´ed up knees will allow: ;)

Image
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Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2007 6:23 pm
by Ron Barbagallo
Huge Congrats Alex!!!

Best of luck with the new venture, I'm sure you'll do your usual amazing work there

Fats

Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2007 7:47 pm
by Toby Warg
Spill the beans! Who'll replace Ralf?