Cd .12 1964 Panhgard LM64

[Cd]

I just wanted to post a link to a site with some beautiful high resolution images of this fantastic car.

CD PANHGARD LM64 Le Mans 1964 at chez Autodrome Paris, Pagani, Ferrari, Lamborghini specialist, Cannes, Paris

Thanks to 'groar' for creating the post on the 'interesting French document'.

I had seen references to this French car having this low of a Cd ( .12 ) , yet there were some doubts that I had read from others, and I never really bothered to do any research on the car afterwards.




Now after looking at these new images, I would believe a .12 Cd would be realistic.

What a beautiful car !

[basslover911]

I don't know ... that's REALLY low ...

[cfg83]

basslover911 -

Originally Posted by basslover911

I don't know ... that's REALLY low ...

Sounds like a good place for adjustable air-shocks. The cabin shape reminds me of the EV-1.

CarloSW2

[lunarhighway]

The cabin shape reminds me of the EV-1.

ev-1 was the thing that came first to my mind as well.

it sometimes bothers me how carmakers keep trying to reinvent the wheel, and than brag with figures that have been bested decades before.

i understand that a practical family car with limited dimensions will always fall short of the ideal aero shape, but if you have a practical layout with such a low drag coefficient, why on earth don't they reverse engineer it... make a nice 3d model and play around with it... upscale it a bit, tweak it so that the interior will fit. whack off the tail, and a away with the front or even back wheelskirts if they absolutely must, it's not like they have to tell us they stole the design...

put on some funky fashionable lights and why not, a fake chrome grill if that will boost sales (close it of from the back).

chances are they end up with a very attractive yet publicly acceptable car with a drag coefficient that far lower than any car in production now... and that's just without ever trying to make it better!!!

[Frank Lee]

Looks like Vehicle Research Institute's series of Viking experimental cars...

VRI :: Viking Cars



to which the Avion is related...

[lunarhighway]

where did the wheelskirts go??? very attractive car otherwise, like the naca duct!

[Cd]

Thanks for posting that Frank.

It a shame to see so many cars designs that never made it to production, yet got 60, 80, and over 100 MPG decades ago.

I'm puzzled at the shovel nose design used in these cars - doesn't it produce a lot of lift and direct air under the car instead of over the car ?

[Frank Lee]

That nose puzzles me too.

[winkosmosis]

Directing air under the car isn't bad. I've noticed that a lot of people do stuff like use front skirts and lower cars to reduce drag. They'll even use a completely vertical air dam- a front air brake! IMO, stuff like that is misguided. Someone posted an article little while ago about how the myth of lower = better arose, and that an aerodynamic underside is better.

If you direct air under the car, it speeds up and creates downforce. It's like the car is an upside-down wing. Indycars are like that... or were some years ago.

If the car is high enough, it probably doesn't take much energy to compress the air either.

Edit: Also, with the shovel nose, the air that gets funneled under the car then decompresses in the rear and fills in the vacuum. So you spend some energy to compress the air, and get something in return that may be even better.

[winkosmosis]

F1 car with upturned nose http://www.digital-photo.com.au/gall...1-IMG_8057.jpg