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Old 07-12-2012, 11:16 AM   #4 (permalink)
California98Civic
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Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Coastal Southern California
Posts: 6,299

Black and Green - '98 Honda Civic DX Coupe
Team Honda
90 day: 66.42 mpg (US)

Black and Red - '00 Nashbar Custom built eBike
90 day: 3671.43 mpg (US)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by examorph View Post
Me and a group of people are making a small car which is powered by an electric motor for a race, I am having a hard time deciding on a design for the bodywork, after researching I thought the best design would be a tear drop since many say it has the lowest drag coefficient of any natural shape, what are your thoughts on this?
Look up "the template" thread here on EM. I would imagine a really good and not too difficult design would be a version of the 1930s Schlorwagen's shape, which resembles a "tear-drop" a little, adapted with a trailing edge that is a bit more like the template, which also resembles the tear drop a little. Get a copy of Hucho's book on the "Aerodynamics of Road Vehicles" through your library's inter library loan program, or buy it ($$$). For fun and design ideas, spend some time on the thread called "interesting aerodynamic vehicles." It features pics of classic and little known vehicles almost entirely. The Schorwagen is on it too. Good luck!
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See my car's mod & maintenance thread and my electric bicycle's thread for ongoing projects. I will rebuild Black and Green over decades as parts die, until it becomes a different car of roughly the same shape and color. My minimum fuel economy goal is 55 mpg while averaging posted speed limits. I generally top 60 mpg. See also my Honda manual transmission specs thread.




Last edited by California98Civic; 07-12-2012 at 12:43 PM..
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