Quote:
Originally Posted by Joenavy85
It has been done on Air Racers (P-51 Mustangs primarily) at Reno using the same concept (and using heat from the oil cooler as well), but I don't recall hearing about how much it helped the speed, if at all. It makes sense to me in theory, I would imagine the ducting would have to be precisely shaped to minimize any drag on the way out, I would also imagine that it would take up a fair amount of space which would make it impractical for smaller cars.
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The many time National Champion Formula One Air Racer,
Nemesis, was designed by a group of guys who worked at the famed Lockheed "Skunk Works". The ducting (for an air cooled engine) on Nemesis was sufficiently complex that they told people that they could show it to them and they still would not understand it.
Many automobiles wind up with high pressure areas in the engine compartment that complicates both cooling and aerodynamics. Several production automobiles are now incorporating automatic temperature controlled louvered grill systems to deal with aerodynamics without the risk of a too small grill opening.