Quote:
Originally Posted by .Cd
I have read about this sort of thing - reattaching flow and such.
So as an extreme example, when you have a tailgater 'drafting' behind your ultra slick car, he is actually ruining you aerodynamics by following too closely ?
You are pulling him in your wake, and if it is a large SUV then he just ruined your aero big time.
( In this case, it you might end up getting better MPG by driving 85 MPH and not having a string of SUVs in you wake ... right ? )
So if I drive a Hummer and had an Aptera tailgaiting me, then the .Cd on the Dummer would go down as well since the flow would reattach onto the Aptera ??
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In NASCAR,the race cars have basically a Cd0.30.When a challenger pulls up behind in a close draft,the Cd of the lead car drops to 0.21,and the Cd of the drafting car drops to 0.18.Hucho addresses this in his book.GM calls it "convoy" driving and is actually being considered in the U.S. to conserve fuel.It was part of a Discovery Channel show about "Future Cars" that aired a decade or so ago.