Small-medium scale project collaboration

I want to write a database system. I am sick and tired of wading through gigabytes of meaningless acronyms trying in vain to find something that will suit my needs and never getting it.

I want to design and build a simplified database system that caters for the operations that EVERYONE uses and not just experts. I'd be very surprised if the average programmer uses more than 10 percent of any database system functionality currently available.

I just find SQL, ADO, ADOX, DAO...blah blah... ODBC so overblown and fat that I just get bogged down in a rut, unable to find the motivation to continue.

Design Brief:
Simple database system engine designed around OO classes and binary / text files. Suitable for low-traffic data access and small (less than 1GB) database files.

Would anyone be interested in collaborating on such a project?

No time wasters please :) ;) :D