Quote:
Originally Posted by spacemanspif
If there is no air being caught in the well and the air is being pushed around the wheel/wheel well then what is the benefit of the radiused well behind the tire? I'm under the assumption that the radius or vents eliminate/aliviate pressure that causes drag from caught up in the wheel well.
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If the wheel well communicates pressure to the forward stagnation point,via the engine bay,and high-pressure cooling system air is escaping from the bay through the well,it can create a 'jet' which upsets the airflow along the sides of the car.(You may have seen this during wet driving).
Professor Morelli spent a lot of time in the Pininfarina tunnel massaging the vents of the CNR 'banana' car such that the air emerged parallel to,and at exactly the same velocity as the surrounding air so as not to trip it into turbulence.
The trailing radii would be an attempt to turn the air parallel to the car sides before it contacts the side flow.
On a Ferrari,where there is a dedicated radiator extractor vent designed into the belly pan,no such air would be blasting out the wheel-wells,and nothing fancy would be required to enhance the flow there.
Remember though,these supercars,while very 'cool' have pickup truck-like drag coefficients,and are designed for high-speed stability more than any other parameter.They're not really a model of efficiency.