Drop your cooling drag to near zero... with no reduction in cooling!

[JulianEdgar]

I'd never seen this mentioned before. Just extraordinary. (Double post, but I think so important.) The incredible trick from Porsche.

https://youtu.be/AAYqrDUxTiY

[MHR1294]

Originally Posted by JulianEdgar

I'd never seen this mentioned before. Just extraordinary. (Double post, but I think so important.) The incredible trick from Porsche.

A friend of mine had the bumper removed from his recently and I noticed the radiators and their ducting, but was totally unaware of its effects. A very small drag penalty!

[freebeard]

Double post, but I think so important.

Agreed. Spread it far and wide.

I remember seeing the twin angled radiators in cutaway drawings. Thanks for pointing this out.

[Chonk_Master]

For anyone wanting to try0: maybe a pair of Honda Civic radiators?

Something like this:
https://caautoparts.com/products/rad...IaAsbMEALw_wcB

Routing a twin radiators design might be quite the trick. Not impossible.

[freebeard]

So long as there is a header tank at the highest point it should just be a plumbing issue. Parallel or serial?

[j-c-c]

Wouldn't also a similar gain be found, if the packaging was more beneficial/useful, to take the air in front of the tire, and use that for cooling, and exhaust it where it was more useful? Also seems like tire heating in HP conditions, would be less of a concern.

[aerohead]

It's comforting that Volkswagen AG would allow the budget to handle the R&D costs which lead to the design.
At around $2,000/hour for wind tunnel testing,in a world-class facility,it's been reported that Ferrari has spent upwards of $100,000 for proving out a single aerodynamic modification.
The last article I have for cooling drag dates to 1976,with the Dr. Alberto Morelli/Pininfarina collaboration on the Italian State-funded,low-drag,CNR 'banana' car,which had some amazingly efficient,ducted extractors,tuned to the exterior flow environment.

[Chonk_Master]

Originally Posted by freebeard

So long as there is a header tank at the highest point it should just be a plumbing issue. Parallel or serial?

With a series system branching from and returning to the same pump, I think you might get some advantage in mass flowrate. It might be higher if the overall volume is greater than a comparable series system. If it's the same total volume as an series system, don't think you'd see any flowrate advantage. But you could probably use the same size radiators.

Series might be tricky since one radiator is going to see hotter coolant. Different sized radiators? Can't think of any real advantage to this, other than simpler piping. Mass flowrate can be bumped up with larger hoses.

Pick needed heat transfer rate > figure out overall required mass flowrate for radiators that fit (Area) > compare to flowrates of series and parallel system constructed from available materials (?)

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by Chonk_Master

With a series system branching from and returning to the same pump, I think you might get some advantage in mass flowrate. It might be higher if the overall volume is greater than a comparable series system. If it's the same total volume as an series system, don't think you'd see any flowrate advantage. But you could probably use the same size radiators.

Series might be tricky since one radiator is going to see hotter coolant. Different sized radiators? Can't think of any real advantage to this, other than simpler piping. Mass flowrate can be bumped up with larger hoses.

Pick needed heat transfer rate > figure out overall required mass flowrate for radiators that fit (Area) > compare to flowrates of series and parallel system constructed from available materials (?)

Depending on your cooling load using coolant to heat large flat horizontal surfaces like the car underbody and hood while keeping the grill completely closed might yield the same effect, possibly a little better since you could reduce turbulence

The radiator would become thermal mass after said surfaces and only open when needed for additional cooling.

[Chonk_Master]

Interesting concept. Might take some doing with radiator fab but custom radiators are old hat. Only concern then might be clearance with the hood.