Quote:
Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard
I think the Mercedes B/B design is something very special (unique?) -- it doesn't look like any other uber-low drag car, and it has a far more practical, usable, human-friendly interior shape, and even though it is "just" a Kamm back, it beats all comers, so far.
Nothing ordinary or conventional about it.
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I am a mechanical engineer, and that is nonsense. The Boxfish model does not use any magical or arcane methods of reducing drag. It is a design that could be arrived at by squaring off and truncating an "egg-shaped" HPV or an airship, or by tucking in the rear wheels of a Prius (and adding a grille and cowl block and deleting the mirrors, good for at least -0.06). Neither the truncation nor squaring reduces drag; they are compromises that make the vehicle more practical, but less aerodynamic. A vehicle based on the blue clay model would have drag that is very impressive, but far from unprecedented.
It's not a bad design if you need a tall vehicle, and it would be more aerodynamic than anything you can buy from a major car maker, but that's not saying much.
Here's an example of a vehicle that gained +0.061 Cd between clay model and real vehicle, and whose entry at Wikipedia I have repeatedly corrected:
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...6-a-13198.html