[instarx]

How about development of a liquid-drop airflow tracing method. i was thinking of trying this just for fun, but you are welcome to the idea.

I thought to coat the car's surface with a fine powder like flour or talc. It might be necessary to oil the surface first to get the powder to stick (although road dust seems to stick to my car quite well). Then, with the car at speed, use tubing to introduce a liquid at various points near the front of the car. The droplets would be swept back with the airflow, disturbing the powder and giving a clear semi-permanent indication of the streamlines.

That's more development of an experimental method rather than an experiment, but MIT might like that.

Also, I've often wondered if a flat plate extended a few feet in front of a car would act as a deflector to put the main body of the car in a low-pressure zone. Years ago I read about a similar technique used to improve ballistic missile range. I think the missile deflector changed the shockwave patterns and did just not deflect air, but it might work on cars at slower speeds, too.