> The area behind the front wheels looks to be a massive air cooling exit on each side.
Right, plus it allows the wheels to turn when you move the steering wheels.
This body project wasn't originally as pure a mileage maker as it has developed into. The original goal was a cheapo body to make Locosts equal to a Miata in CdA and lower than a Miata (or standard Locost) in lift, and with some inexpensive mods (a splitter in front and a wing in back) trade drag for downforce on track days. The slightly too steep rear deck led to a vertical spoiler, to move the center of lift forward and reduce overall lift. But now that we're in ecomod mode there are changes to be made, and this seems a better venue for suggestion than the Mother Earth News site.
> Your metro middy idea seems like a really good starting point for the
> clean sheet.
Yeah, and if I wasn't so fully committed to the MAX project I might have changed horses midstream, but a lot of people want to see how MAX turns out, so first things first. Besides, front engine rear drive cars are cool (see the Panoz pics above).
> Agreed Bristol didn't have Hucho but then they did have a wind tunnel and
> a vast amount of experience dating back around half a century by 1955.
True indeed, plus they had all the Kamm and Jaray papers that Hucho built his book around--but Bristol didn't really get rolling on the 450 until '53 (they bought the design, less bodywork, from English Racing Automobiles at the tail end of '52) and by '55 they'd taken off the cabin and were racing it as a roadster (it had less drag as an open cockpit car, with a tonneau on the passenger's side). Nevertheless Bristols were 1-2-3 in the 2 liter class at Le Mans '54 with that coupe design (shown on page 1 of this topic) so it couldn't have been a complete turkey, and if I wanted to build a $30,000 car instead of a $10,000 car I'd let the Bristol 450 be my inspiration,