Project: The AeroFocus

[HydroJim]

I got around to tuft-testing the AeroFocus today. The results showed attached flow everywhere and slightly turbulent flow on the bottom right hand corner of the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAZ4T...ature=youtu.be

[MetroMPG]

The more turbulent area could be from side mirror interference.

When I did the tuft test video on the Firefly's prototype tail, I recorded it with the driver's mirror both folded & deployed. You can see more turbulence on the tail in the deployed position.

It's in one of these videos...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sQFtd-bTfw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mjff5NDREkQ

[HydroJim]

That's a good point! Makes good incentive to replace the mirrors with cameras

[arcosine]

Looks real aero, Jim, the tuffs are hardly moving.

[redorchestra]

that is amazing! watch out for the men in black suits!

[HydroJim]

I'm still not used to all the weird looks I've been getting. I've driven right by a few cops and none have seemed to have a problem with it. Being black definitely makes it blend in fairly well so it's really only noticeable when I pull up to an intersection where everyone can see it.

Today I got to working on the rear wheel skirts. The final version obviously wont be made of cardboard, but this let me get a feel for how low I could make the skirts. I'm going to eventually have side skirts and rear wheel boat tails, so I think I could make the bottom edge of the skirts go a lot lower, but for now, this should do.



For now they are attached with just the tape. so I guess I'll find out if tape is adequate or not.

[Weather Spotter]

it looks like a great mock up !

[HydroJim]

Rear Wheel Skirt Completed. I'm going to be doing the other side tomorrow and hopefully I can pull the car out of the garage and get a nice side shot with the skirts on.



For now the skirts are just taped on, but depending on how they act on the highway, I may add an aluminum rib underneath because right now I think the air might push down on the skirts so that they make contact with the wheels which is undesirable.

I also concluded that aside from a flexible membrane, there is no way to make front wheel skirts on my focus without increasing the frontal area a whole lot. Therefore, I added a wheel arch gap filler. I'll be doing the other side tomorrow.

[HydroJim]

Here is my attempt at showing the frontal area added by the rear wheel skirt.



I decided to add a rib underneath the skirts to make sure they don't depress against the wheel in strong crosswinds. This should also help keep people from walking up to my car and pulling the skirt right off. At least it'll take a little effort now.

[Gealii]

the added area shouldn't be anything lost compared to the smoothness. and i know how that is at our age our acquaintances decide somethings ugly, stupid, pointless they take it upon themselves to fix it had some1 rip an experimental external grill block off in the school parking lot. Now since out of high school no one cares about junk we strap to our cars they only steal something actually worth money like decent hubcaps quick and easy =(