Quote:
Originally Posted by M_a_t_t
The only thing I've noticed with my car (not really that aero actually) is that it gets shaken very easily. If I'm behind a pickup or full size van at speed I can feel as I enter the turbulent wake, its not subtle either, and seems to have gotten worse after I put my tail on. The car is only ~2300 lbs though so being light(er) definitely affects it.
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Touching on
only this point, my retired Yaris would shake all over the place when entering the wake of a large vehicle, my Nissan Leaf (Almost a full US ton heavier) seems mostly unperturbed and unfussed. The Yaris was definitely more streamlined than the boxy Leaf is, but also much
much lighter, and I am pretty sure it was solely the weight that made the difference.
I would be willing to bet in a hand-wavy sort of way that having a vehicle lighter in mass per unit length will cause it to experience greater aerodynamic perturbations. So though the mass of your vehicle is the same, you are lighter per foot of length.
It's also worth noting that a boattail increases the length of the vehicle that can be affected from sideways winds, such as the vortexes and messy spirals of air. That extra few feet on the back end of the vehicle add a lot of "lever" to the fulcrum of your rear tires and probably contributes a lot to your lateral stability too.
These are my thoughts, and full disclaimer I might be completely full of it!