Nissan takes a brave leap in Le Mans

[womprat]

Originally Posted by aerohead

From looking at an older SAE paper on Indycar aero,if the car is Cd 0.24,then its drag would be about 79.5% lower than a typical racer.
At" 60% less," its Cd would have to be based on an Indycar without any wings or pods,just body and exposed wheels.

Interesting. Did the paper give a range for Cd? If so was the higher value and Indy car in it's maximum down force set up, since wings are adjustable?

When I saw .24 Cd I just assumed that was achieved by ground effect being much more efficient than wings.

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by womprat

Interesting. Did the paper give a range for Cd? If so was the higher value and Indy car in it's maximum down force set up, since wings are adjustable?

When I saw .24 Cd I just assumed that was achieved by ground effect being much more efficient than wings.

In the paper,the body alone had Cd 0.24,when wheels were added Cd 0.54,when the wings were added,Cd 1.17.Ground effects and wings produced 3,500 pounds of down force on a car which has a static weight of 1,400-pounds and could conceivably race inverted,as the induced negative lift easily exceeds the vehicles weight.

[wdb]

Originally Posted by aerohead

In the paper,the body alone had Cd 0.24,when wheels were added Cd 0.54,when the wings were added,Cd 1.17.Ground effects and wings produced 3,500 pounds of down force on a car which has a static weight of 1,400-pounds and could conceivably race inverted,as the induced negative lift easily exceeds the vehicles weight.

That's an old F1 hack; above 60mph or so, a modern F1 car generates enough downforce that the car could race upside down.

[ennored]

It's back....



...and even uglier.

[NeilBlanchard]

It will be easier to see, now. They did get bumped - literally - out of two races they have been in.

Le Mans has all enclosed cars now.