Oh widebody cars, why do you rule my heart and head(s)?

Widebodies are amazingly-attractive for a number of reasons:

— they allow a massive change in vehicle proportions

— there are almost no limits to how wide is too-wide

— their grip principles are grounded in racing conversions, adding authenticity to street cars

But oh widebodies — why are most of you so utterly un-functional as to actually impair performance?

Poorly-created and designed widebody conversions add hundreds of pounds exactly where a race driver would never put it: on the outermost corners of the vehicle.

Widebody styling — when done without regard for engineering principles — dramatically hurts aerodynamic smoothness and can make a car’s exhaustive OEM aero testing a thing of the past.

With an 800HP V8 for a race series that might have a theoretical 150MPH top speed cap, who cares about aero?

The power is easily enough to overcome aero problems.

BUT… What if…?

What if a widebody could be so lightweight and aero-optimzied as to improve performance with zero downsides?

Would that not be the coolest idea ever?

DeviantART agrees — with this chopped and louvered widebody actually enhancing aero performance while doubling the max tire footprint and grip.

The cut-outs in the back of the fenders reduce any fender-well air pressure, helping brake cooling and overall performance.

On side benefit of this engineering-led approach to wide customs? It looks amazing — and many of the engineer-based ideas from the DeviantART car are present on the new RC F Sport and RC GT3 Concept.

Best of SEMA 2013? the Lexus IS350 F Sport by DeviantART.