Making a more efficient, aerodynamic soapbox gravity race car

[elhigh]

I imagine that extreme camber is to spread the track out to the maximum allowable while keeping the CG as low as possible. It'll allow him to carry more speed through turns, traction permitting.

It might also move the turbulent flow of the tires onto the smoother flow of the body and clean them up some. I dunno about that.

[freebeard]

In Japan it's called VIP style.

A good start on getting tires under a half-body of revolution, like The Template.

[ChazInMT]

Here's my take, enclose the front, let the body taper on the sides, get the area behind your body and head into a taper, it's the best you can do for the simplest design. You'll get 85% of the drag reduction out of this, to get the other 15% you'd have to go to real extremes. Try to get as much air around the sides as possible. I have not been able to illustrate my idea about the front, you basically want to have the "Hood" stay high out as far as possible to push the air around you, the driver.

Sort of this:



Here's my drawings....such as they are.

[darcane]

Originally Posted by Xist

Darcane, can you tell us about your son's racer? Perhaps in a dedicated thread?

Sure. I started a new thread so as not to clutter this one:
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...car-32538.html

[orengomotors]

Originally Posted by ChazInMT

Here's my take, enclose the front, let the body taper on the sides, get the area behind your body and head into a taper, it's the best you can do for the simplest design. You'll get 85% of the drag reduction out of this, to get the other 15% you'd have to go to real extremes. Try to get as much air around the sides as possible. I have not been able to illustrate my idea about the front, you basically want to have the "Hood" stay high out as far as possible to push the air around you, the driver.

Sort of this:



Here's my drawings....such as they are.

wow! thats an impressive work! and looks cool!
thankyou! can't wait to start building it.
we leave that as final design?

[renault_megane_dci]

The part from your shoulders should be that little smaller than your helmet and shoulders in order to only fill the wake.

The next step would be to try and lower your position as much as possible.

Also if you could reduce rear track in order to have the wheels covered that would help aero but it probably is a compromise with handling.
I suggest more distance between front and rear.
Are there tight turns in your races ?
If not, a longer wheel-base should not be an issue.

[Frank Lee]

Look at Vetter's work on fully-faired bikes; he suggests a slightly larger seatback + headrest with a generous radius on the leading edges.

[orengomotors]

another question,
to build the molds i want to do something like this:
https://youtu.be/ZsMoY8qbCGM
is there any software to do this?

[freebeard]

Probably, but any polygon modeler can give sections in the X, Y and Z axes. You could add the slots and lightening holes manually.

[aerohead]

Are you going to make a male mold (plug) ?,then make a female mold from it ,and then layup your shell in the mold?
If so,once your body bulkheads are established,heavy wire can be used to span the gaps between bulkheads,onto which expanded metal lath can be attached.Then a cement based molding plaster can be applied onto the lath and built up and smoothed to create your plug.
After the plaster is cured it can be sealed with shellac,coated with polyvinyl alcohol mold release agent,and three coats of carnauba wax,before a plaster splash (mold) is created over the plug.
The splash is tooling epoxy followed by birdnests of plaster-soaked hemp fiber built up about 25mm thickness to create the female mold from which you'll make your shell.