Quote:
Originally Posted by woodstock74
Stiffener, perhaps. But what if the low-pressure draw of the wheel well and the spinning wheel wasn't deemed to be enough of a draw? Would they augment that draw?
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One thing we might consider is,that on the 'windward' side of the panel,the 'bell-mouthed' rolled edge would help mitigate a vena contracta entry loss (extreme drag!),however,nowhere else in the image do we see the same care taken elsewhere in the penetration,to smooth those other pathways.
To act as a Gurney flap,the air would have to be attached to the outboard surface of the inner fender well and moving perfectly from front to rear,in order for the flap to trip the flow,creating the low pressure wake-induction.
Since some cars use wheel wells for high pressure engine air snorkel intakes,it suggests that the air inside is rather stagnant,isolated from the active airstream beyond the fender.
Complicating things more,is to follow alongside some vehicles in a rain, where you can observe spray ejecting perpendicularly from the wheelhouses.
Pininfarina will spend $100,000 of Ferrari's money just to tune very small features like this.
A Go-Pro and a smoke bomb inside the engine bay would tell us something.
