aerodynamic car idea, a wild thought

[aerohead]

Rolf Buchheim et al. tested this half-body-inspired shape in the Volkswagen Climatic wind tunnel in 1981.
It achieved Cd 0.14 as shown and would have lower drag if fitted with wheel fairings.

If any of the contours are made more aggressive,we risk separation and higher drag.
Frontal area would decide how many occupants could fit inside.
Wolf Heinrich Hucho commented,in his 1986 book,"The attempt to design a car with an integrated 'ideal' body was repeated several times,but without production success.'
Individuals like us are free to explore these low drag forms as long as we respect all the associated regulations.

[botsapper]

DyMax trike

[Shortie771]

I designed a tandem 2 seater electric car with 3 wheels, that I was playing with. I may build it one day when I have less important things to spend my money on, building a house atm, from scratch, just my wife and me. It actually ended up looking a lot the Elio, but a bit bigger and a little wider. Mine also had the front steering components completely enclosed and it tapered back (like the one in post #1) with a teardrop shape viewed from the top. Back when I had access to the Project Falcon 3D wind tunnel software I ran my model through and if I remember correctly it managed 0.10Cd and pretty much neutral as far as uplift and down force, but then again that's only virtual. Everything changed once it actually comes to the real world. All my math on it said it would have been 300+ mpg with about 120 mile range and top speed of 65mph. Ahhh, one of these days.

Pic of Elio:

[freebeard]

Don't we all have a tadpole lurking in our background?



I sold on my Cortez, so today it would be a Tesla drivetrain.

[kach22i]

I selected these three cars because the feet/legs are squished up front as far as possible (possible with a rear engine design).

As I've mentioned before when analyzing other designs, there is a visual issue that deals with depth perception which in turn causes driver disorientation when the windshield is placed too far away from the driver.

Imagine trying to drive from the back seat, I seem to recall this as an old nightmare of mine many years ago.

One notorious example of this phenomena is the Pontiac Trans-Van of the mid-1980's. I witnessed an elderly lady judge a turn poorly resulting in hitting the cub between the lanes of opposing traffic, the van flipped when she hit the curb and she slid past my car upside down while I was waiting for the left turn light to go on.

http://s184.photobucket.com/user/kac...?sort=3&page=1


There is an additional issue with windscreen height which may be resolved by scaling up the design to mini-van proportions. I might look into this later, this is a "first blush" or "first pass" looking at the challenge ahead.

[kach22i]

Second try.................I guessed right on the windshield angle and use of the Trans-Van for a template, but the original profile is impossible to deal with regarding the lower visibility plane.

The vehicle would be roughly twice the size of a mini van, semi-truck sized to work. Perhaps this is what they had in mind, and not a passenger car/van?

Source of Pontiac Van profile image:
Pontiac Trans Sport | Tractor & Construction Plant Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia

Aerodynamics by George Kachadoorian | Photobucket

Originally Posted by aerohead

Wolf Heinrich Hucho commented,in his 1986 book,"The attempt to design a car with an integrated 'ideal' body was repeated several times,but without production success.'

Well, it isn't easy, I'll say that much or we would be seeing a lot more aerodynamic cars on the road.

[freebeard]

It depends on the use case. Here's a Bonneville racer, where all you need to see is the horizon.



Same geometry as the motorhome, but it shows the potential for a WWI German hexagonal camo paint job. Alternatively, here's one with an open cockpit:

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by freebeard

It depends on the use case. Here's a Bonneville racer, where all you need to see is the horizon.

Good point, but I think there is a more of a focus in this forum on street going cars.

I think I see some influence of the speed record holders from Germany in the 1930's on that silhouette. I cannot deny that relationship and think you see it too, forward visibility is the only concern then/there.

Consider that previous profile, I found a car embracing the essence if not the direct form, as you can see the canopy is larger, pushed back, and certain ratio and proportion to the tires that we struggle with today - the packaging of the human body remains an issue.


1939 Maybach Stromlinienkarosserie




I found the base image above in this thread - photo came from MikeMariettaSC's photo gallery.

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...1930s-325.html

He got that image from here: (sorry a dead link)
design-classic-cars.de*-&nbspThis website is for sale!*-&nbspdesign-classic-cars Resources and Information.

EDIT:
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...0s-325-11.html