I want to build a 100-mpg car (and I want it to look vintage)

[sgtlethargic]

Originally Posted by freebeard

There are two users in the Aerodynamics subforum that advocate for The Template and for a less specific, more modern approach. It was a veiled reference, not wanting to drag the thread down — thanks for asking.

The Volkhart-Sagitta to me represents a Jaray two-body melding of the two, with the retro look you want.

Unless I did it incorrectly, the BOcruiser is pretty close.

[JulianEdgar]

Clearly, the rear of the BOcruiser drops away more rapidly than The Template. (So, according to Aerohead's theories, the upper rear should be in separated flow. Of course it isn't.)

And in fact - surprise, surprise, the rear shape is very similar to the Porsche Taycan, isn't it?



You know, someone looking at these could start getting the idea that The Template is of very little use indeed - not when the current slipperiest cars in the world show a quite different rear shape.

Gosh, who'd have thought it? I am just gobsmacked.

[Piotrsko]

The template is an ordinate arbitrarily chosen to fulfill another arbitrary set of parameters such as visibility, passenger accommodation, what not. I personally feel more laminar ordinates are superior, but have over time come to see the template as a beginning point for the non-engineer to Grok (term used as defined by originator) and not mock.

YMMV and it will because your use of inferior gottengen airfoils because they are easily available and indicates someting else.

[AeroMcAeroFace]

It seems like no-one has mentioned the CarBEN thread, I remember following it for a long time and then it all stopped when the car got crushed. It shows how much work a custom body really is though, it isn't surprising they have teams of people working on solar cars.

The CarBEN EV5
https://ecomodder.com/forum/showthre...tml#post316166

[sgtlethargic]

Originally Posted by AeroMcAeroFace

It seems like no-one has mentioned the CarBEN thread, I remember following it for a long time and then it all stopped when the car got crushed. It shows how much work a custom body really is though, it isn't surprising they have teams of people working on solar cars.

The CarBEN EV5
https://ecomodder.com/forum/showthre...tml#post316166

I was wondering about that project. What went wrong?

[freebeard]

I recall the 'garage' collapsing on it. Paging NeilBlanchard.


justacarguy: please join me in a standing ovation for the El Toro High Auto Shop class for their Mopetta replication! Thanks tot he shop teacher, Casey, for sharing this with me!

The hard part is doors and windows.

[sgtlethargic]

Originally Posted by JulianEdgar

Clearly, the rear of the BOcruiser drops away more rapidly than The Template. (So, according to Aerohead's theories, the upper rear should be in separated flow. Of course it isn't.)

And in fact - surprise, surprise, the rear shape is very similar to the Porsche Taycan, isn't it?



You know, someone looking at these could start getting the idea that The Template is of very little use indeed - not when the current slipperiest cars in the world show a quite different rear shape.

Gosh, who'd have thought it? I am just gobsmacked.

There's more than one way to cheat the wind.

I haven't delved into the debate, but I am aware of it. Why is your commentary coming off as smug? That doesn't seem like a good tone to take.

[sgtlethargic]

Regarding the AST: truncation of the tail has been a key part, so I don't see the shown overlays as evidence against its use, but for it.

[JulianEdgar]

Originally Posted by Piotrsko

The template is an ordinate arbitrarily chosen to fulfill another arbitrary set of parameters such as visibility, passenger accommodation, what not. I personally feel more laminar ordinates are superior, but have over time come to see the template as a beginning point for the non-engineer to Grok (term used as defined by originator) and not mock.

YMMV and it will because your use of inferior gottengen airfoils because they are easily available and indicates someting else.

The Template here has been used on this group:

• to determine whether airflow is attached or separated
• to determine the required height of rear spoilers
• as an assessment tool to judge the aerodynamic purity of production cars
• to guide the best shape of rear car extensions to existing cars

All are just rubbish.

The template therefore seems to me to be a pretty good thing to mock - just saying what I have already said doesn't seem to get through to people.

[JulianEdgar]

Originally Posted by sgtlethargic

There's more than one way to cheat the wind.

I haven't delved into the debate, but I am aware of it. Why is your commentary coming off as smug? That doesn't seem like a good tone to take.

The Template here has been used on this group:

• to determine whether airflow is attached or separated
• to determine the required height of rear spoilers
• as an assessment tool to judge the aerodynamic purity of production cars
• to guide the best shape of rear car extensions to existing cars

All are just rubbish.

I am not smug - if anything I am sad and angry that people have been so sucked-in by something with so little validity. The Template is just a very old-fashioned, low drag car shape - that is all.

Its uses in all of the above dot points is a vast over-reach - going down a rabbit hole and then that hole getting deeper and deeper.

It's like my getting a pic of a combustion chamber design from a high performance 1930s piston engine and then suggesting it was the ultimate and we should copy it in our modifications, use it to judge existing combustion chambers, etc, etc.