Indycar Drag

[aerohead]

I adapted some images from an SAE Paper,circa 1987,for Indycar aerodynamics.
You can directly see the drag contribution for adding wheels and wings

[gone-ot]

Gotta keeps those *wheels* glued to the ground as the engine pumps out HP at 200+ mph around those banked corners.

[ByDesign]

Fascinating to me what a few appendages can do ... and the other way too, with the right tweaks. The cars of today are significantly slipperier. Does anyone have access to current Indy or Formula 1 car data?

[kach22i]

I realize that the Cd number is independent of "frontal area", but that first shape could be the inspiration for a "narrow track" car.

Blisters for the rear wheels, and tucked in front wheels like the example below could be interesting.

Deltawing Announces GT Race Car Concept
Deltawing Announces GT Race Car Concept - Build Race Party

The DeltaWing® design in the prototype roadster and coupe features a very narrow front track and conventional rear wheelbase. The result is a significant reduction in overall mass and weight coupled with an aerodynamic efficiency gain. The rear-engine layout and narrow track design provides a 30 percent/70 percent front-to-rear weight distribution, which allows engineers to use much smaller steering, braking, suspension, and other components up front to reduce overall mass and weight. Less mass and weight means less horsepower is needed to propel the vehicle, which in turn decreases fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Other benefits include reduced front tire and brake wear and less rolling resistance.

Ben Bowlby Returns
http://www.windingroad.com/articles/...type-revealed/

The hallmark of both these cars was a very narrow front track to generate low drag. To go with this, Bowlby fashioned a layout that made much more use of the rear of the car to do the work. Laypeople looked at the car and said “that can’t work”, but Bowlby knows his physics and the DeltaWing did roughly meet its objectives of LMP2 pace with half the fuel consumption.

Another possible example in the same family tree.

The Nissan GT-R LM Nismo is not a Garage 56 entry. This time Nissan and Bowlby are going for the big prize, overall win at Le Mans. And they’re going up against the big hitters of Audi, Toyota and Porsche.

And I guess another?

Nissan BladeGlider, the streetable version of the ZEOD race car
http://www.motornature.com/2013/11/n...zeod-race-car/


One last one, I swear.

2012
'Holy aerodynamics, Batman': Nissan's Deltawing 'Batmobile' could change motor racing forever when it hits Le Mans this year
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencete...Mans-year.html

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by ByDesign

Fascinating to me what a few appendages can do ... and the other way too, with the right tweaks. The cars of today are significantly slipperier. Does anyone have access to current Indy or Formula 1 car data?

The most current number I've seen was for the Nissan Delta Wing.Cd 0.35 was the number offered on that one.Nothing about the competition.

[gone-ot]

0.35 is VERY slippery when everybody else's number is in the >0.9 range!

[bikeprof]

1. These numbers are from 2012
2. Since then, how many Nissan have raced and performed well ?
3. Audi, even with the polluting TDI , walks away...
4. In F1, Mercedes IS the "one", no matter what body is being used.
5. I'm still waiting for CDx numbers of the newer F1 cars, anyone ?