Aeromodability of a VW Bug?

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by Gerrelt

Where did you get this version of that image? It's the same as the picture I got (see: picture). But yours looks like the original non-photo shopped version. Seeing the line in the middle of your picture, is it a scan from a book?

(btw, I can see smoke attached to the rear window in your version... )

Gerrelt,this image was at GOOGLE or BING.When Al printed it off the internet,the address was chopped off so off hand I don't have the web address.

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by Gerrelt

Where did you get this version of that image? It's the same as the picture I got (see: picture). But yours looks like the original non-photo shopped version. Seeing the line in the middle of your picture, is it a scan from a book?

(btw, I can see smoke attached to the rear window in your version... )

Gerrelt,if you can find the thread FLOW-IMAGES ,there are some more wind tunnel smoke flow photos.I think there are two images of the Golf/Rabbit,with smoke being injected into the airstream before,and directly into the wake.
I think what you're seeing is some of the smoke caught in the wake circulating up under the outer flow field.
The two images are in Hucho's, Aerodynamics of Road Vehicles.

[kach22i]

New thoughts:

Belly Tank Salt Flat Racers

Burke's first belly/drop tank lakester was made from a 165 gallon P-51 Mustang tank, just like the ones he'd seen during the war. Burke ran the car in 1946, reaching a speed of 131.96 mph, powered by a Mercury V-8. The next year, Burke returned with a car made from the wing tank of a P-38 Lightning. At 315 gallons, the P-38 tank was much larger than the P-51 tank. He placed the driver in the front and the engine in the rear. This time, everything fit inside the tank except for the wheels and a small windshield for the driver.

Retro Rides - Show me.....drop tank racers


The original teardrop open wheel belly fuel tank racer was an inspiration, this 50 years later thing by GM is cool too.

Tank 28 Redux
GM's Iteration Of The 50th Anniversary So-Cal Speed Shop Belly Tank
Tank 28 Redux - The History Of - Hot Rod Magazine


No reason why a similar package could not be VW powered, right?

[CFECO]

Nope! Have you looked at Formula Vee racers, they were VW powered, and been around for years, so a cheap chassis could probably be found.

[gtkid2002]

Just to add to the 55mpg bug page, here's a thread from Thesamba. Was looking up something unrelated and found these. Might be useful to somebody.

TheSamba.com :: View topic - What happened to Jon Karcey and his 50 MPG ACVW?

Aircooled VW South Africa • View topic - Air cooled fuel efficiency.

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by kach22i

New thoughts:

Belly Tank Salt Flat Racers


Retro Rides - Show me.....drop tank racers


The original teardrop open wheel belly fuel tank racer was an inspiration, this 50 years later thing by GM is cool too.

Tank 28 Redux
GM's Iteration Of The 50th Anniversary So-Cal Speed Shop Belly Tank
Tank 28 Redux - The History Of - Hot Rod Magazine


No reason why a similar package could not be VW powered, right?

when So-Cal enclosed the bellytank creating the So-Cal Streamliner it made a good speed showing until it wrecked at Daytona Beach.
Daimler also realized that when their open-wheel monoposto type GP car was fully enclosed inside bodywork that they could coax higher speeds in spite of the added frontal area.
Ditto with OLDs AEROTECH March Indy chassis in 1987.

[gtkid2002]

Those look not only fun as all heck to drive, but they also look safe. I wonder what the gas mileage on one of those that isn't tuned for racing would be. I tried looking on one of those websites and most of the links were dead. And those wheels are awesome. Seriously awesome.

[CFECO]

Here is a possible start for streamliner, at a reasonable cost too. $1000.00, on RacingJunk.com, in the road racing section.

[Sven7]

Originally Posted by aerohead

Gerrelt,this image was at GOOGLE or BING.When Al printed it off the internet,the address was chopped off so off hand I don't have the web address.

I would like to introduce you guys to Google Search by Image.

Search by Image · Inside Google Search

This allows you to start a search with an image instead of text keywords. Very useful for finding the source of a photo.

I've found a flipped version at The Samba

One at Gerrelt's website.

Here's another large version

Well that's all I could find. Hopefully it helps a bit...

[gtkid2002]

One email and a program tinkering later...

Still playing with ideas. Although frankly, Right now I can't make any solid ideas because of a very short lack of a budget. It's a tie between getting a few gallons of gas, or seeing how much further I can get into reserve for milk and pasta shells.

Those little racers look just about exactly what I'd love to build. But would a body that covered the wheels be better or having them exposed like they are?