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Old 10-16-2023, 01:36 PM   #758 (permalink)
aerohead
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' template' CAVEATS to ponder'

Yes, there are OTHER 'low drag' shapes to consider:
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1) The Morelli shape:
The lowest Cd Professor Morelli was able to achieve for his specialized body, when modified for human passengers was 0.161, and for the body alone. When wheels were added, the drag rose to Cd 0.35. 'Integrating' the wheels into the body allowed the drag to fall back to Cd 0.201.
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2) 'Ellipsoid' bodies:
Yes, ellipsoid bodies have as low a drag, fineness-ratio for fineness ratio, as streamline bodies. What sucks about them though is that, you can't SEE out of them, forwards or rearwards, due to optical distortion and internal reflections created by the nearly 'flat' glazing. So they're knocked out of the competition.
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3) 'Laminar' bodies:
Yes, 'laminar' bodies have very low drag, and if you drive at 33,000, to 41,000-feet above the ground, then, they're your solution for low drag cars.
Should you drive on the 'ground' though, you notice that Earth has it's own turbulent boundary-layer, measured in kilometers, which your 'laminar' body would be completely submerged within, rendering it completely 'turbulent,' possessing zero benefit. They're also associated with the same kinds of outwards vision problems as ellipsoids.
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4) 'Wing' bodies:
If you've followed solar race cars since 1987, you've seen 'wing' cars. You may have also realized that these one, and two-passenger 'cars' are already as 'big' as some of the largest passenger cars ever manufactured. If these cars were 'enlarged' enough in headroom in order to allow the driver and passengers to enter and leave, and 'sit' in a 'conventional' manner, as with 'conventional' vehicles, they would exceed the length of all mass-produced passenger cars.
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5) Very-low-drag bodies capable of accommodating drivers and passengers in the manner to which they are presently accustomed to are very constrained in shape.
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