[aerohead]

Originally Posted by Sven7

Similar, but with strange winglets.


Mercedes-Benz Weltrekordwagen T 80 silver 1939 vl2 by stkone, on Flickr

I remember someone saying that the aero template we use will work up to 250 or so mph. Out of curiosity, how does it change when a car goes, say, 300 or 400 mph?

For a vehicle in ground proximity at 250 mph up to local Mach-1,'transonic' flow begins,where compressibility affects of the air and supervelocities caused by the vehicles own acceleration of the flow field around the body can conceivably produce local supersonic shockwaves.
Since subsonic drag is governed by separation and wake drag and supersonic drag is governed by shockwaves created at the nose,it becomes necessary to allow for a more ogival nose to mitigate any shockwaves .
So,for racing and unlimited-speed sections of the Auto Strada and Autobahn,the more 'pointed' nose is required.
Early supersonic LSR vehicles were designed with v-bottoms which would allow the shockwaves reflected from the ground to pass by the body vertically,essentially making the bottom a 'nose.'