[orange4boy]

Originally Posted by Vman455

And then you reached this conclusion:

I didn't mean that as a conclusion. Should have added an /s. It was meant to jokingly prove a point about semantics and pedantry. I'm poking fun in both directions. A fixed template that claims to solve all problems is obviously not practical or efficacious (not that I ever thought the template was) but output from applied knowledge meant to modify a vehicle can be a template.

(Also, the "context from the experts" you posted refers to the Ahmed body and SAE body, not the DrivAer models. It isn't clear in your subsequent posts that you understood that).

I did and I'm glad the piece was posted.

But the first quote is a caution against using simple bodies to predict flow over a real car because the flow around them is too complex to predict with something like a template. For example, just because a researcher tested a cylindrical body and found that it had lowest drag with a 22-degree taper doesn't mean that a 22-degree taper will give lowest drag on any car.

I agree. I have personally never expected "thee holy template" to do anything more than exemplify one possible low drag shape and, in the absence of something better, ie: CFD and an accurate model of my personal vehicle, to give one a very basic principal shape to keep in your head. At the time I was active, I understood the 22 degree taper to be a rough guide for mods which would then require tuft testing and evidence of mpg improvement.