Quote:
Originally Posted by JackMcCornack
Thanks for the comments. y'all.
> To look to history for an example of a "clean" body shape that would also
> be easy to construct, how about the Bugatti Type 32 Tank?
I'm not convinced it's clean--I think it slopes down too steeply in the back. That Bugatti looks to me like a car that's begging for a Kamm tail. It sure would be easy to make, though, and MAX only goes 71.5 mph so I don't think lift is a problem. Comments?
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That was my thought too about the sloped back -- there would probably be some flow separation there, but it sure looks mega-cool. With a Kamm style tail you would wind up with something very much like a '70's era Can-Am or prototype, such as the Porsche 908-3
http://www.autoblog.com/media/2006/07/300606-c-por-.jpg. With the power those cars had on tap though, I'm not sure low Cd numbers were their principle design criteria.
Your point about design speeds are well taken too, I'd bet that few race car and airplane aerodynamic studies have concentrated on speeds of 70 mph and less. I would hope that velocity is well below takeoff speed, even for a car that's shaped like a Clark Y airfoil!