Quote:
Originally Posted by Frank Lee
It would be interesting to see how much of the prop stoppage came from him following that other vehicle, or you following him... or both.
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Frank,
It would indeed.
So far as I could tell the vehicle and boat seemed unaffected by my vehicle since the prop was still stationary for some distance after passing me.
I am guessing since the towing vehicle (Toyota Hi Lux) is fairly high off the ground the air was passing virtually uninterrupted beneath it and then along the underside of the boat (a small - 14 foot or so aluminium runabout on a very basic trailer with a simple beam axle) where it then found the waiting propellor.
Pulling in behind the other car in the same lane would put it in a region of disrupted air so I am guessing the "streamlining" of the boat hull was not able to get things suitably straight to get the prop rotating again.
I have seen and heard of F1 cars having stability problems when overtaking another car especially at high speed due to aero interaction.
It is difficult to find much information on the aero interaction of vehicles although I do recall some research on the inputs into a parked vehicle from a passing bus done in the late '70's.
Peter.