Quote:
Originally Posted by aerohead
Someone 'styled' the Taycan.
Aerodynamicists at Porsche may have made recommendations about the general architecture of the Taycan, citing weaknesses aerodynamically. That's all fine an good, however, the stylist, manufacturing engineers, bean counters, and marketing people might have the final say in the matter. Hucho went up against this at VW AG. Any modification had to be 'stylistically acceptable.'
Adding a rear spoiler would be a rather simple matter, considering a complete overhaul of the shape.
Since the 1998 911 GTR was primarily a race car, without upsetting devotees of the 911, Porsche was in a better position to throw the template at that car. As a 'halo' car, Porsche had it's reputation riding on the aerodynamic advantage of the lower drag, then throwing as much downforce-induced drag as they dared, in a delicate dance of speed versus cornering ability.
|
What does all that mean? Nothing much.
The Taycan uses a active rear spoiler to achieve a low rear coefficient of lift when it is deployed, something that is needed because of the car's relatively high coefficient of rear lift.
Obviously, Porsche would have not fitted it if they could in fact have achieved a similar low level of lift and drag by other means, while retaining the packaging (etc) requirements for the car.
Aerohead writes as if the combination of low lift and drag is just a pen-stroke away, when in fact all the shapes he nominates are high-lift shapes. (High lift in the real world, not in a world that uses models of non-viscous flow, etc.)
Basically, Aerohead's theory of lift on modern car shapes is quite wrong, so he needs to invent weird reasons to explain the actual outcomes we can see on cars like the Taycan.