Most interesting car aerodynamically - 2016

[kach22i]

Mulsanne's Corner: Race Car Engineering Le Mans 2016

Audi R18 is without a doubt the most interesting car aerodynamically this year.

The R18's core aero concept at the front is the raised nose (1); the highest in the LMP1 field.

I know that race car aerodynamics are not explored too much in this forum as the lessons they offer are not typically applicable to street vehicles. However there is so much going on with this R18, how could anyone resist looking at it in awe and wonder?

Several other cars and views in the link.

Check it out.

[NeilBlanchard]

The side view mirrors are innovative, and it seems like they are working to limit the "width" of the airflow, which will lower drag. But so much of this is for downforce, and safety (the open top fenders) that it is hard to see how very much of this affects us ecomodders.

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard

........ it is hard to see how very much of this affects us ecomodders.

I agree but some fundamentals could be derived.

Take the front wheel openings, they differ from others in that they are not the top part of an arc, they are an opening in a flattish receding plane.

Now anytime you have to deal with an opening on your street car, this little bit of information could provide some context or serve as a guide.

I know it's a stretch, but the bits and pieces might be applied elsewhere - if we only understood the principles well enough to do so.

[freebeard]

I've always wondered what my favorite Volkswagen would look like with updated bits and pieces.



So Graham-Nash headlights, fences on the fenders, single wiper, kschnorkel on the tailfin...

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by freebeard

.......kschnorkel on the tailfin...

A what?

Please illustrate.

EDIT: like this?

https://www.versustradingco.com/veil...odel-rear-wing

[freebeard]

A typo? Yeah that's the ticket. Your infographc will go viral, and it will become a term of art.


http://www.2040-cars.com/volkswagen/beetle---classic/vw-baja-bug-300890/

Like this, only with a tailfin.

Edit: The 1939 Graham headlights.


http://www.barrett-jackson.com/Events/Event/Details/1939-GRAHAM-SHARKNOSE-SC-CONVERTIBLE-22758

[ThermionicScott]

That exposed oil plumbing, though... *cringe*

[freebeard]

Yeah, a real racer would have drilled holes in the roof. And put big aircleaners with pre-filters inside the cabin.

BTW 'Graham Nash' is a musician; Graham was more closely associated with Willys or Paige; if I've got that right.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Those front fenders look quite odd.

Originally Posted by freebeard

Yeah, a real racer would have drilled holes in the roof. And put big aircleaners with pre-filters inside the cabin.

Could eventually run those oil lines along one of the C-pillars to avoid any interference to the rear visibility, but maybe keeping them on the outside with some sort of brushguard could avoid it to irradiate heat inside the cabin.

[freebeard]

The sharknose Graham is similar to the bullet-nose Studebaker, from a decade earlier.

I picked the Baja because the intake is raised above the boundary layer, just like the Audi. But everyone focuses on the oil lines, and they are not even braided stainless.

I'm interested in the fin on the top/outer edge of the front fender. Does it cut down the 'bow wake', like the USS Independence?