[aerohead]

[QUOTE=Bicycle Bob;52205]

Originally Posted by aerohead

RiseAbove,in the phil knox aerodynamic photo albums,under Book Illustrations,second row from bottom of 1st page,is an illustration of Walter Korff's zero-drag,cooling system design.I

The label actually reads "ideal low drag cooling system." I used to be inspired by the North American Mustang aircraft, on which it was claimed that the radiator enclosure had negative drag - sort of like a hot-air jet engine. However, the Voyager team did their own testing, and could not get the cooling drag to be less than 20% of the total on their whole aircraft. One has to assume that they were competent researchers.

The front end provides the most direct flow to the rad, and does not have to disturb the rest of the shape. There may be some existing cars that could be improved by relocating the rad and ducting to the rear in a combined effort to solve other problems - it is not that difficult - VW did it on the wasserboxer Vanagon, in the other direction.

However, I agree with Mr. Lee - a front engine is good for stability, which becomes much more important on a light, streamlined car.

I wanted to mention that in my photo album, the label under Korff's diagram is mine,not Korff's.I used the word "ideal" because I thought any cooling system design that could totally eliminate this component of drag was "ideal".