Active Flow Control

[some_other_dave]

Originally Posted by dichotomous

...when going faster the pressure there would push (or pull from the vaccume behind) the leading edge down for more downforce (and drag, and stability)....

Therefore raising the pressure, causing the spring to push the device closed, thereby dropping the pressure, pulling it open again... Lather, rinse, repeat!

"Flutter", "un-damped oscillation", call it what you will. At the very least the noise will be quite annoying, and the vibration and change in lift and/or downforce could be outright dangerous. Not to mention the beating the moving parts will take, possibly leading to them failing.

I don't think I'm in favor of the design. If it were just an electric motor, now, that's another story. But an un-damped spring is just asking for trouble IMHO.

-soD

[aerohead]

I like the Mercedes with Cd0.18 that gets 100-mpg.Maybe they could quit messin' around with tailights and get that car into production.

[rollercoaster]

Check out the attachment on venting.

The question is -if you put rear wheel covers on, will that defeat the purpose of ducting or have a cumulative effect?

[ecomodded]

The rear wheel skirts may increase the high pressure but the areo gains would be greater then the high pressure drag losses. Add in the vents and drag drops further,apparently.

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by Tango Charlie

Do you suppose they did this purely for drag reduction, or are they trying to eliminate build up of snow and grime on the tail light lenses? Or both?

In the late 70s and into the 80s M-B spent a lot of time developing anti-back-soiling technology for the tailight lenses,using horizontal ridges which would limit deposition to the 'outer' portion of the lense while keeping the void free of contamination.
We had a 300 TD in the family with this feature.
On the unlimited speed portions of Germany's Autobahn you will witness the large class M-Bs and BMWs blowing by on wet pavement.And if you are closing on a car's rear,you need to know it's there.The anti-fouling feature is an attempt to provide that visibility for both cars sake.And guys like me in the slow lane who might also get smacked.