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Old 03-12-2012, 12:13 PM   #11 (permalink)
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Sorry, my mistake but the name I referenced should be Dr. Joseph Katz, author of "Race Car Aerodynamics, Designing for Speed". I just received a copy of "The Leading Edge" by Goro Tamai. This book goes into greater detail on ground clearance and drag of solar racers. It looks like 6-14" of clearance with a flat underside is good. The air dams are used to cancel lift and may increase drag but improve stability. There are more issues to explore with small amounts of camber on the bottom and the overall angle of attack of the body. So a curved front with the lowest point at the oil pan blended to a belly pan extending back to the differential may a good solution. Using quick disconnect fasteners would help when doing inspections and maintenance.

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Old 03-12-2012, 12:57 PM   #12 (permalink)
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Hello -

This has been working for me for over a year :

Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum - EcoModder.com - cfg83's Album: Air Dam

But I owes yous guyz a video to see it in action.

And I don't claim that it helps because I don't do ABA aero-testing.

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Old 03-12-2012, 01:27 PM   #13 (permalink)
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Right. A spring loaded airdam could change angle as speed increases. Match the spring rate to the airdam area.
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Old 03-12-2012, 03:51 PM   #14 (permalink)
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Grant-53 -

Quote:
Originally Posted by Grant-53 View Post
Right. A spring loaded airdam could change angle as speed increases. Match the spring rate to the airdam area.
What I found is that you can match a spring to an MPH, but a spring that fully deploys at 35 MPH will be "overcome" by the air at 55 MPH. The solution is a spring+chain. The spring deploys fully at X MPH and the chain keeps it from stretching beyond it's ideal position :



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