Ford's GT40 -- Horrible Aero

[trikkonceptz]

I'm lucky enough to be in the presence of GT40 almost every day. So the other day I am looking at this one head on and see that the front tires are directly in the air stream of the vehicle and by that I mean hitting the wide side of the tire with air coming off the front of the vehicle.

So I got to looking for the Cd of the GT40, which was hard enough to find, but managed to find a couple of sites that listed it at .37, .35 I saw on a third site, but that was the best I found.

Of course I am no expert, but that is horrid for what should be a flagship for american muscle cars. What were they thinking?

With no anticipated market, they could have at least made the slickest looking sportcar both in looks and through the wind. Why would they drop the ball? Otherwise, it drives like a bat out of hell, the power to weight ratio is insane ..

Anyone have details about this?

[red91sit]

I'm guessing you are talking about the Ford GT, not the GT40 (the old one). the reason for the styling of the new one is to make it look like the old one. The mustang is the same way. Loose out on some aero for apprearance sake.

As far as supercars go, that's a pretty average number. The engines, brakes, and transmission on these highly stressed vehicles require massive airflow. and as we know, even on our economic cars, cooling is a major portion of drag. with 5-10 X the h.p. it is to be excpected. The GT does actually have a lot of aerodynamic benefits. attached flow all the lenght of the car, terminating in a slight spoiler to create a sharp cutoff. Smooth under carriage. ducted cooling flow. The basics are still fairly good all these years later.

[dremd]

If you asked me I'd say
1) Short Run (as planned)
2) Looks > Low Lift > Cd
3) Short development period.

BTW awesome car. I've never been in one that was remotely stock; but they are F-ing serious .

[DifferentPointofView]

Thats around the same Cd as the Ferrari F430. You have to remember, they're concentrating on keeping the car stuck to the ground. Lift in a car doing 190 is a bad thing.

[EXPIOWA]

Fuel mileage is not really a concern when you buy a $150,000+ car. I believe that they were trying to keep very close to the original car.

If you would like to see better aero look at the new Corvette ZR1. It is really good. I have had several chances to get up close to one and poke around. Chevrolet spent a lot of time on the front of the car with particular attention paid to the front wheels. There is a small lip around the front of the wheel well that is supposed to improve high speed stability. The back side of the front wheel well has black plastic molding inside that makes a convex curve behind the wheel.

The bottom of the car is nearly flat and the back has diffusers and sharp edges to cleanly separate airflow. The roof has a lower center section that I believe has some benefit for reducing lift and keeping laminar flow all the way to the rear spoiler lip. It is a work of art. I'll try to get some photos up later

[Memorytwo]

"dirty" air rims means more air blended into the brake area.
therefore the GT got that designed. you got to keep those brakes cool in order to brake from 190 to 0 in a short amount of time and distance.

also the CD of a MR setup would be not as great because it has to have scoops to breath. which means either a roof scoop or side scoops. killing Cd

[Geebee]

Just have a look at F1 drag coefficient they really suck, sticking to the road is more important.

[SVOboy]

Snap some pictures for us?

[trikkonceptz]

Originally Posted by SVOboy

Snap some pictures for us?

I'll get some pics up later today, if my camera is in the car ..

[trikkonceptz]

Enjoy the Pics .. Sorry I couldn't get better pics of the rear, but moving it from its spot today would be impossible since the owner is circling the building today like an expectant mother ...