Quote:
Originally Posted by freebeard
Open wheels, big frontal and wet areas and not enough taper in plan?
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Yea, I think those are the reasons typically given.
Also those rear wheels are just drag humps, they are not true fairings in an aerodynamic sense.
I'm not sure about the phrase "frontal area" or "big frontal area" in regards to this vehicle.
I think despite the wings it has a small "A" in the CdA formula, and isn't that the frontal area or area known as large case "A"?
The "A" is very small on this car in my opinion.
In short, it's the wheels both front and back that make this a high drag car.
In my mind the slim wings, bubble canopy and even pointy nose more than make up for the wheels in a gross energy consumption kind of way. However, that may be my imagination being manipulated by the designers use of a cliche aerodynamic vocabulary.
Like putting a wing on a car makes it go faster, not always the case, just case of "association" (
small case - haha).
EDIT: an article that includes "frontal area".
An Introduction to Automobile Aerodynamics
https://mechanixillustrated.technica...-aerodynamics/
The simplest explanation I could find on the Internet is below, the Quora ones are very complex and detailed.
https://www.purplezeus.com/aerodynamics.html
Quote:
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As the aircraft moves through the air it pushes air out of its way. Projected frontal area is a measurement in square units that describes how much air an object moves as it travels.
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I think if I bothered to look up an
Aerohead quote in the forum on "A" I would find a textbook quality definition of "frontal area".
NOTE: could be different than,
cross-sectional area of the test section