Quote:
Originally Posted by Bicycle Bob
That looks very oversimplified to me, too. The "ideal" shape is impossible, having no ground clearance. The Corvair Greenbrier wagon, which looked like the offspring of a VW van married to a Chinese Pagoda, still lucked out with a phenomenally low drag.
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Bob,It's very oversimplified.It's maybe a "bridge" to demonstrate a form which is borrowed by every low drag "car".The "mirror" image takes into account ground clearance,so that's not an issue.If the Chevy Greenbrier is placed under the overlay,it's Cd drops from 0.38,to 0.16,with about 33% of the roof and body sides "Kammed" or" Mackeral-tailed","bob-tailed"",boattailed",whatever you want to call it.Every fuselage has it.Every canoe.Kayak.Submarine.Fast torpedo.Artillery projectile.Supersonic bullet.Whale.Dolphin.Bird.Varna.It's everywhere.----------- As far as "impossible",I'll be driving that come September.I have no pre-cognition of how it will play out,however,everything I've looked at since 1973 re-affirms my conviction,that for a ground vehicle,passive low drag can be achieved by no other means.