Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnForde
At 48" behind the vehicle my 'whaletail' (WT) still has an aperture of 24" wide.
The 'feathers' eliminate the aperture. They will be hand rolled out before each highway trip. They will extend another 33-36 inches behind the lights. At the rearmost point they will rub against each other and can flex either way for the wind.
They are made of twin wall polycarbonate. They slide thru a 1/2" slot between two 1"x3" aluminum tubes that are the rear door frame.
They can be quickly retracted by hard braking. I can adjust this with the weight of the metal 'stop', that keeps the feather from tumbling out.
It has no top after the lights, just sides. I am thinking about how to improve this.
If the police pull me over I briefly (1/2 second) hard brake causing the feathers to tumble in and conceal themselves.
"Officer, I believe I am up to code in every way". And I am.
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It's an elegant design, something Kelly Johnson would probably have given the nod to, had he been around to see it.
With the 'open' top, the sides are still there to aid in sequestering dead-air 'inside' the footprint of the tail, like flying buttresses behind the cab of a Lotus, Lamborghini, Ferrari, Porsche, etc..
I like the idea of the weight-biased 'stops'.