Quote:
Originally Posted by All Darc
Once you are on the road, the weight it's not very important and aerodynamics it's the main issue. I totally agree with you, in these terms.
But once you are in a ascent/clive, the overal weight it's very important. And every time you need to desaccelerate and accelerate again, like driving in the city, weight became important.
I bet many people are doing carbon fiber in home, paying a ot, to get a poor finished product.
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You have to look at how fuel is spent in each application. In automotive applications, most energy is spent overcoming aerodynamic drag. The amount spent accelerating mass is relatively small. I'm not saying weight reduction doesn't matter, only that it matters very little compared to other applications.
For rockets, most of the fuel is spent accelerating mass, therefore reducing mass is critical, and spending money on exotic lightweight materials is justified.
Shaving 50 lbs off of a vehicle doesn't much impact fuel economy.
I agree that home use and low grade consumer CF is not so good. This is why we don't see it commonly used. To do it right is expensive, and to do it wrong is pointless.