Improved Aero by Lowering

[ccm302]

Originally Posted by wungun

SVT Focus...nice. I have one of those!
But I converted it over to the Euro only RS Focus model...

But having the engine tuned (for performance) Also gave noticeable gains in mileage.
There are a couple of really good tuners you can talk to on the popular focus forums which would be happy to sell you a flasher with a custom tune...One of which, offers free upgrade tunes if you happen to change somethings like throttle body, exhaust, filter, etc.

I've seen you lurking around the forums and have seen your car. Looks good btw. Also, I have a tune from the inidividual you are talking about

Originally Posted by wmjinman

I just couldn't believe it. "What about the air you're compressing underneath?!?!?! You've GOTTA be causing LIFT!" Not so. The air accelerates under the car just like it would over a wing, producing a low pressure area under there. "But what about the air 'trapped' between the car and the ground?" I asked. The answer: no air is "trapped" - it's flowing under there, and the ground is just the opposite side of the venturi throat. It has to accelerate, causing the pressure to DROP.

I remembered most of this from my aero classes which is why I was thinking/mentioning belly pans. There are a couple of the high end exotics that use them and can actually create a vacuum high enough to keep the car glued to the road, even if the road were to abruptly turn upside down.

[some_other_dave]

One of the benefits for fuel economy of lowering a car is that, in general, you don't have to slow down as much for corners. So you don't have to spend fuel to get back up to speed again.

In theory, you can get better or worse MPG from lowering your car. It seems that most of us see no benefit or a very small benefit, while some see worse FE, and a few see a lot better (relatively) FE.

Doing A/B testing is a bit more involved for lowering. Even if you have adjustable spring perches ("coil overs") it still takes some fussing to precisely set the ride height.

-soD

[YeahPete]

Belly pan.

[freebeard]

One of Luigi Colani's Bonneville cars was inspired [allegedly] by the water strider. I haven't found a good illustration of it; this is the best I've seen so far:

It was completely flat on the top; e.g., a very high stagnation point. It looks like it should have very good cross-wind performance.