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Old 05-30-2013, 05:41 PM   #5 (permalink)
aerohead
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parachutes

Quote:
Originally Posted by Shortie771 View Post
Us as ecomodders try to streamline our cars so that we can cut through the air with as little resistance as possible. That is great and will always be helpful since we are moving our cars forward 99.78% (not real statistic) of the time. These modifications are extremely helpful when we are faced with a head wind, but if the wind is coming from any other direction they do us no good (other than fighting the resistance of our driving speed).

So, the question here is: Is there any way to take even greater advantage of side winds or tail winds, without negative effects?

I'm thinking something along the lines of reverse parachute.
As shown,they would simply fill with stagnant air and air acting against the 'transom' would just push against the buckets of dead air as if they were a solid surface.
If the entire transom area were concave it would catch air when 'struck' from behind,although as Freebeard has mentioned,would only 'show' at low speed,like a square-rigger sail.
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