Quote:
Originally Posted by aerohead
Hucho has a chapter section devoted to the 'ideal' nose.
It's basically what R.G.S.White displayed in his 'Method of Estimating Drag Coefficients,' 1968,which is just like Walter Korff's ideal nose of 1963,which is much like Paul Jaray's nose of 1922,which goes back to the half-teardrop form Hucho uses as his benchmark.
For what it's worth,and I've mentioned this elsewhere,the 'ideal' nose on my CRX meant virtually nothing at 100-mph,which meant it's contribution to drag reduction was very little and so it's value for mpg,also very little,whereas most of the speed record and 60+ mpg came from the boat tail.
The 944 has a pretty nice nose.And Porsche has probably already optimized it for the unibody chassis underneath.To significantly modify it would require structural modifications which could jeopardize other aspects of the cars makeup,especially progressive deformation and crumpling during impact should that ever happen.
If she were mine,I'd be looking at that Lange-type roofline and a way to push it out like the Porsche 917 Lange Hecht.
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Thanks Aerohead.
I'd use all the same attach points, but where the 944 Turbo nose now breaks the natural sloping line of the hood and upper section of the panel between headlights, I'd just continue that line on down to the stagnation point. No more pop-up headlights, which are uber-draggy. Instead of long rectilinear slots for the cooling air intake, I'd consolidate that draggy design into on probably elliptical inlet at the stagnation point. Instead of a bumper cover, 2 headlight covers, and a panel between headlights, make all that one piece.
The front bumper is secured by shock absorbers, and that part would stay intact for safety reasons, as would all attach points.
Instead of separate light fixtures on each side for a headlight, 2 turn signal lights, a fog light, and a driving light down where they get sandblasted and rock chipped/broken, I'd consolidate all that into one covered fixture with the headlight, up out of the rock chip zone. Sorta a combination of Jag XKE and latest version Corvette.
This would weigh considerably less than what's on there now.
I'll check Hucho. Thanks for the suggestion.
Got any other sources of nose optimization ideas?