Cd and blunt front ends

[Old Tele man]

..very nice under pan indeed! I had a 1967 Formula S Barracuda and instantly recognized the basic body design.

[Old Mechanic]

Hehe I had a 67 383 Formula S coupe (not fastback).

10 MPG no matter what you did. Buried the speedo and jammed it against the peg below 0, with a 323 rear axle.

regards
Mech

[aspera]

I got poke around the car in '06 (?) when it had the 4 cylinder turbo midget engine. The turbo was as big as a basketball and sat right behind that little slot in the nose. (no radiator, just a ballast tank) I think the engine was dry sump and sat very low. The whole engine bay was sealed off from the ground by the belly pans. What air that there was in the engine bay was used efficiently. For example, there were long thin heat exchangers (for oil?) mounted at the rear corners right by the door gaps. At speed the low pressure at the door gaps would pull air through.

The interior was just nuts. There was no transmission tunnel. The trans just sits right beside the driver. The exhaust is routed through the interior. IIRC the intercooler and plumbing is where the passenger seat would be. The driver's seat has its own roll cage in addition to the car's roll cage.

The exterior is smooth except for a billion Tri-wing fasteners. The wheels even have them!

[NeilBlanchard]

Hi,

I think that most of the time, a blunt nose is best -- because the air "decides" which way it will flow, and this determines the stagnant point.

But, if you use a pointy nose that is as low as possible, then this forces more of the air to go up an over the car -- which can be helpful especially if you do not have a smooth underside.

For example, my rear wheel skirts get pushed outward; I think by the air coming out from under the car, as well as by air on the sides "catching" the bottom edge. OTOH, Chang's CRX HF has a long and low and quite pointy nose, and I think this helps minimize the need for a belly pan.

[aspera]

Do you really need a ramp or can you just use a huge splitter? This is one of the biggest around. It's all carbon, but the underside is what's cool. The underside is all foam. They put lots of foam under there and the stuff that hangs too low just gets worn away. The result is exactly the correct ground clearance. No math, no guessing.

[Frank Lee]

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

Frank,I thought you promised never to publish my photo! It's okay,I've made some changes.It'll be harder to recognize me now.

[aspera]

The gentleman in that picture appears to be modified for low drag and downforce. The paint dots must be vortex generators like the dots on a golf ball. Also, notice the slender neck. He's built for speed.

[Frank Lee]

I'm sure that superior aero is the reason they can run like cheetahs!

[Sorrow Six Star]

the whole car pic does the "monster's" SX4 more justice if you have played grand turismo you will seee the resemblance to the original "escudo" (read swift metro, lol) car


and one made of legos FTW!


this is the "family" car we own