The whole driver wouldn't fit but I have tried putting in a helmet. I didnt spend a lot of time modelling it so it didn't look very good, but maybe when I have more time.
To fix the rear wings you should work on the light intensity and position (use different lights with low intensity from different directions) and reduce (a lot) factor of reflection of the materials, they will still reflect a bit but at least the shape will be visible, even if almost flat. I suggest you to start from zero and then increase it by little steps until you get a result you like.
Another thing, you should for renderings use a perspective view.
Anyway I agree, rendering is a very time consuming thing, you have to make many tests to get it “right”, especially when you want to find a compromise between looking “real” and showing all the details (that you want to show because you spent time doing them...), but keep working, you are doing very good !
Thanks for the tips. I did exactly that and fiddled with it a bit. I ended up using, I think, 4 point lights, one at the front, rear, and both sides but pretty far away from the car. I used two different red materials: one for the body and one for the wings and it ended up ok. Here are the latest renders. If anyone wants the 3000 by 2250 copies just pm me your email.
Finally, the last update of the project. I completed the application for the design contest but SolidWorks' upload mechanism wasn't working so I'm still trying to figure out how to get it to them. I'm going to call Monday and talk to them until it is resolved. My other option is to overnight it to Sweden, which I'll do if necessary but it isn't really a financially efficient plan.
So here's the conclusion that concerns some of you: If I find someone willing to host the 87mb zip file I'll put it online for everyone to download. The earliest that would be up is the 1st of December so I'll try to find someone by then.
Thanks to those of you who encouraged me through this project and gave helpful tips.