View Single Post
Old 12-08-2020, 01:16 AM   #1 (permalink)
JulianEdgar
Banned
 
Join Date: Nov 2017
Location: Australia
Posts: 2,060
Thanks: 107
Thanked 1,608 Times in 1,137 Posts
What causes car drag?

This video looks at pressures and areas, and takes into account what is happening at the front of the car as well as the back.

We generally think of the rear of the car as being more important than the front when it comes to drag, but I wonder how much of that is a carryover from older-shape cars that had a lot of rear separation (eg from the trailing edge of the roof on sedans / notchbacks).

This video deliberately tries to keep things simple so doesn't look at trailing vortex drag, undercar drag or friction drag. Note that the diagram below is not showing pressures but actually the drag/ thrust caused by each area of the car.



The video was in part prompted by Vman455's measurements on his Prius, and also a comment I got on my channel that questioned how much drag was actually being caused on this Hyundai by the low pressure wake:


  Reply With Quote
The Following 5 Users Say Thank You to JulianEdgar For This Useful Post:
Cd (12-08-2020), freebeard (12-08-2020), gil (12-10-2020), kach22i (12-08-2020), woodstock74 (12-09-2020)