Quote:
Originally Posted by jakobnev
Aero so bad it matters:
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0.74 Cd with wing, compared to the stock Corvette being measured as 0.32 in the same wind tunnel.
That means a lot for economy. A stock Corvette of that style with an engine re-tune for leaner burning can get 40 MPG at 70 mph with the tuning for efficiency also accompanying a power increase:
A pushrod V8 is far from the most efficient thing in the world, so do keep that 40 mpg figure and what it can mean for something much more light and slippery in mind.
A Corvette platform could make for a beautifully-performing custom streamliner given its durability and layout, where both performance and fuel economy alike would match the "best" production cars for those categories, and it would probably be reliable too. Parts are relatively easy/inexpensive to source in the U.S. Frontal area, drag coefficient, and weight could all be reduced significantly over a stock Vette, while retaining the original engine, which is a powerful, reliable, highly tunable workhorse.
I do think a V8 2-seater making 60 mpg highway is quite possible... and it would be relatively easy/inexpensive to make it a top performer at the same time. A Panhard CD Peugeot 66C shape laid out over such a platform, and modified with the bare minimum downforce needed for stability(especially attacking low hanging fruit that add lots of downforce but usually minimizes added drag, like ground effects, and while avoiding the use of wings and items that are very drag inducing). The stock Panhard CD Peugeot 66C shape had a Cd of 0.13, but I think somewhere in the upper 0.1X region is doable while having enough downforce not to lose control at 220 mph, which would likely be its capability with stock horsepower, but that engine is tunable to a lot more than that. But because the car itself might be 1,000+ lbs lighter than a stock C5 Vette, its 0-60 mph and 1/4 mile times would still be able to hold their own with modern supercars that can reach near that same top speed. The difference might be a tripling of typical supercar fuel efficiency while also making a supercar that is inexpensive and reliable to operate, that could even match a Prius in highway fuel economy without even having a hybrid powertrain.
Maybe someday I'll get a chance to make a proof of concept of such a thing.
Of course, the Corvette platform, being as sturdy as it is, lends itself well to some off-the-wall engine choices. You could take that Vette apart and find a way to mount a Cummins turbodiesel in the middle of that chassis, then build around it. So many directions that one could go...