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Old 03-07-2014, 03:37 AM   #10 (permalink)
trebuchet03
MechE
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Bay Area
Posts: 1,151

The Miata - '01 Mazda MX-5 Miata
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MetroMPG View Post
How is the car going to be used? What type of driving, I mean?
Weekender. Ideally, at least as imagined, longish trips. 80% long trips, 20% short trips. So far, the car has lived most of its life under my care with the top down going 45-60MPH down the pacific coast highway


Quote:
The car's website. I like the Lucas headlights. The Eunos GT | Garage Woolery No finished paint there.

What did you think of the Difflow diffuser? That was to point to the 25-30% of the drag that occurs on the side you can't see. Belly pan/wheel spats/diffuser for stealth aero. Here's a more conservative example.
The craftsmanship is pretty damn amazing.

I suspect the difflow ones are tailored for track/speed (the first example vehicle on their site is a lotus which have a full belly pan from the factory). Those large fins probably do a good job at keeping outward flow tangential with the direction of motion (much more important at higher speed). Unclear if they provide significant benefit at typical highway speeds.

Diffusers in general - gains won't be fully realized unless there's flow to diffuse - that is, a smooth underbelly is really needed. Luckily, I'm not an all or nothing sort of person A cursory search shows people cutting their bumpers up (to relieve pressure) rather than covering up their bottom side. Probably easier/cheaper.



Smooth. Plus some tasty submerged NACA ducts (I think are going into the engine bay).


Unfortunately, I currently don't have a place to actually work on my car :/ Building garage forbids it.
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