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Neil,
Bottom issues exist of course, but they are not the same in magnitude for a thin horizontal tube as they are with a wide bodied car. I would say that makes the issues similar, but not the same.
My simplified elevated concept seems about as simple as anyone could want. It is different though, and maybe this makes it look complicated.
As I recall, the lead added by Tango was more like 350 lb. and it was only done in response to the Xprize test requirements. Maybe it should be kept in their production model.
There are some good reasons for the dogma that says weight has to be kept low, but I do not accept that as an absolute rule. With good regenerative braking, the weight problem is much reduced. Rolling resistance remains of course, but tire rolling resistance has been improving significantly, so even that fundamental cause of energy loss can be dealt with. If we can make rolling resistance negligible, then fundamentally, a car can move at constant high speed with no energy loss except aerodynamic loss. If we can cut that down by a factor of eight, then it will be time to go back and look at weight effects.
I get it that you do not believe what I say about aerodynamic improvement possibilities.
It would be great to have coast down testing as suggested by Miket, but it looks about as easy to build a full size model as a scale model, and that will address all the other issues as well.
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