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Old 01-01-2014, 11:15 AM   #6 (permalink)
NeilBlanchard
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I got my copy of The Leading Edge yesterday (it is a print-on-demand paperback) and it is heavy on details for solar cars and pedal/electric competition vehicles. It has a LOT of formulas and it covers a lot of the basics as well as in depth minutia.

The couple of things that jumped out at me that I had not run into much before is the term "wetted area" which seems to be the plan area of the vehicle, possibly in relation to the frontal area.

The second thing is junction interference, which comes heavily into play with outboard wheels or canopies that jut up sharply from the top of the vehicle.

He also covers laminar flow quite a bit, and ground clearance and the shape of the underside of the vehicle. Bottom line on ground clearance: lowering the vehicle will *increase* the drag, in all likelihood.

Hucho's book is far broader in scope, and probably more useful overall for most types of vehicles. Tamai's book is very much focused on über low drag vehicles and is also quite useful.
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