Interesting Aerodynamic Cars (Mike Vetter's ETV, also Avion)

[freebeard]

1980 Subaru X-100 Gyronaut: This Car Drove 100 Miles on ONE Gallon of Gas?!

The things I found interesting

1. Subaru sponsorship and engineers.
2. it's a belly tanker!
3. Sweet BRAT tow truck at 1:03.

[freebeard]

Originally Posted by Logic

Strange.... Anyone else having issues?

As an experiment, I found a link on Startpage and used their Visit in Anonymous View service. Works just fine (at this time in this location, etc.).

I think Science Direct doesn't like me.

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by freebeard

The things I found interesting

1. Subaru sponsorship and engineers.
2. it's a belly tanker!
3. Sweet BRAT tow truck at 1:03.

Alex Tremulis, who created it, and was working on an 'X-200' invited me to his home in Ventura County to talk about the 'Subarus.'
I went there directly after Bonneville in 'Spindletop' after setting the LSR. His vision was failing, but he was a good sport, running his hands over the fairings and offering a thumb's up.
His wife is an angel!
Ontario Motor Speedway, where he did the testing is in 'Heaven.'

[freebeard]

Closest I ever got was seeing this fiberglass reproduction Tucker that was the tow vehicle when the Gyronaut ran at Bonneville in 2013.

I went there directly after Bonneville in 'Spindletop' after setting the LSR.

Retell us this story.

[aerohead]

One of my greatest regrets is being 'too late' in thanking my heroes for their deeds that inspired my own investigations.
I didn't want that to happen with Alex.
I knew I'd be in Los Angeles with my oldest brother after Bonneville, and I wrote him, in care of the magazine he was doing free-lance reporting for, and received a letter back, inviting me to drive up the coast for a visit when I got in town.
I'd just set a speed record and a personal best mpg in the CRX, kinda like he'd done because of streamlining in his Tucker Torpedo / Triumph Bonneville, Subaru X-cars, etc., and I wanted him to know how much he'd affected the trajectory of my life after October, 1973.
His home was filled with models of his concepts for me to drool over, and as we snacked, I was regaled with some of the funniest Ford Motor Company Advanced Design high-jinks stories I've ever heard. Jack Telnack would have blushed!
Alex had begun to lose vision after leaving a Tucker Motor's Owners Association , Anniversary Celebration in Las Vegas, but made the effort for a 'curbside' inspection of the mutilated Honda, running his hands over the primitive fiberglass add-ons. He 'knew' road vehicle aerodynamics very well, and the relationship to top speed and fuel economy ( just as with the two Subaru projects ) and it seemed to please him.
A perfect day!

[freebeard]

Thanks for letting me watch your exploits at Bonneville and Darko.

What with the Milburn and the Mercury Speedster, I'm stuck in the 1920s.

RETROCAR to the rescue.

1924 Hispano-Suiza H6C Tulipwood Torpedo: A Race Car Carved From Mahogany

Note especially at 1:47 the boat tail stinger with the [apparent] exhaust pipe in the tip. Also, at 0:35 you see the gusseted frame, built like a bridge girder.

Apparently the driver liked a little elbow room. Wonder what the Cd is?

[aerohead]

The drag would be high. The tail would probably make no difference, being completely embedded within separated flow.
Fachsenfeld won world acclaim for 'removing' the boat tail from a GP contender of his day, only to realize lower drag, higher top speed in the process, for a 'win.'.
The MG TC that I re-upholstered in 1970 had Cd 0.75, it's likely that the Hispano wasn't any lower. 'like to know.

[Phase]

Originally Posted by freebeard

The things I found interesting

1. Subaru sponsorship and engineers.
2. it's a belly tanker!
3. Sweet BRAT tow truck at 1:03.

I can drive 100 miles in my car with gas too and the AC running. How’s this impressive unless it’s going 100 mph

[freebeard]

[shrug] Then there's the passenger miles.

[freebeard]

The art of coachbuilding, the one and only Dubonnet Hispano-Suiza Xenia

There is a better view than this at 9:25

https://external-content.duckduckgo....beb284a7f46eb5

Check out the exhaust tips and tail lights.

What does it have in common with a minivan? Pop-out windows and sliding doors. What does it have in common with old VWs? Cocoa floor mats and a church key to open the rear hatch.