Project AeroMetro thoroughly underway now.

[Arragonis]

Reminds me of that wooden Citroen someone built in the 1960s

http://cache.jalopnik.com/assets/res.../Tryane-II.jpg

Seriously however I think the French from the 1950s and 60s would be worth a google as they went a lot for the low drag / small engine idea - Panhard flat twin for example.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/24/54...fa526a8f7e.jpg

The idea was to build up and maintain speed over long, straight roads which may be what you are after.

A way of getting started, if you aren't already, may be to look at a Lotus / Westfield 11 body/chassis. RWD though.

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by RobertSmalls

The ideal would be a half-teardrop with wheels. The Jaray body looks like it comes pretty close to that. MetroMPG, any idea what the Cd of that is?

So is your new rollcage going to be on-center like in the renders? What will you be using for glazing?

Since you're cutting off the old glasshouse, you're starting with a cleaner slate than most of us get to. Lucky you. I look forward to seeing some pics and data.

I goofed a bit.
In "TUNNELING THROUGH THE AGES" by Alex Tremulis,Road & Track,August,1982, Alex gives Jaray's cars a range of Cd 0.24-28.
One car tested in 1922 By Wolfgang Klemperer registered 0.28."Experts" of the day scoffed at the claim.
Later in 1939,the same car was re-tested in a more modern tunnel and scored Cd 0.245.I believe this is the value for the car that MetroMPG posted.
Jaray's teardrop body of revolution on 4-wheels scored Cd 0.13 ( 1922 ).

[hypermiler01]

Originally Posted by botsapper

Here's a fun & inspirational reference pic as we encourage your build. At first glance it reminded me of one of my favorites, The Alfa Romeo Duetto. The Pinninfarina design was an instant (The Graduate) cultural classic. ...

Thanks botsapper, that is almost exactly how it looks in my head, except Maui blue.

The mirrors will be inside on the dash or canopy. It will open to the side like a gull wing or the plane it came from. I am going to paint the top of the canopy to cut the sun.

[thatguitarguy]

Originally Posted by Christ

"Safety Glass" on cars was introduced to specifically NOT be shatter resistant. If you go into a lake and can't break a window, how the hell do you get out of the car?

"Safety Glass" should allow the nut behind the wheel to see the lake adjust his driving and not drive into it...

[Christ]

Originally Posted by thatguitarguy

"Safety Glass" should allow the nut behind the wheel to see the lake adjust his driving and not drive into it...

This is a rather unexpected comment coming from someone on this site... how exactly do you think you can avoid all possible situations that might lead a driver into a body of water? I mean, other than never driving near water, it's not necessarily true that the driver of the vehicle has control at all times, especially after an initial accident situation, wherein the vehicle is no longer under the control of the driver.

[Frank Lee]

Hear about the doof that was fishing around for his dropped cell phone... drove into a salt-water swamp... in his $1,700,000 Bugatti Veryon?!? LOL

[Mustang Dave]

Yeah, I saw that one. That was an expensive mistake. OOOOOPS!

[hypermiler01]

These cars had wicked stability problems before the spoilers were fitted.

Over the entire top surface of the car, a pressure differential of 0.1 psi will create several hundred pounds of lift.

When Porsche replaced the 908 with the 917, the tail was about a foot higher, and still had stability problems without a spoiler.





About the Jaguar C-Type long-tail:
"Low and rounded at the nose, low and pointed at the tail, it not only looked like an airplane wing (in cross-section) but acted like one. The cars wanted to fly. In fact, their rear ends lifted so much that load on the rear tires was reduced by a good quarter, and the drivers came back to the pits ashen-faced to report evil instability. The older body had shown a tendency to lift a bit, but nothing like this."

[thatguitarguy]

Originally Posted by Christ

This is a rather unexpected comment coming from someone on this site...

My mistake. I thought this site was about getting the most mileage for your money.

Originally Posted by Christ

...how exactly do you think you can avoid all possible situations that might lead a driver into a body of water? I mean, other than never driving near water, it's not necessarily true that the driver of the vehicle has control at all times, especially after an initial accident situation, wherein the vehicle is no longer under the control of the driver.

My driving is in Colorado, and I'm almost never near a body of water.
How exactly do you think you can avoid sliding off the road in a blizzard?? Do all your driving in Death Valley!

The point is the reason the super efficient vehicles in Europe can't be imported into the USA is because the laws mandate that we have a one size fits all approach to our cars. So we have to have airbags popping out of every surface, safety glass everywhere, and all kinds of equipment to protect us in the "eventuality" that we are going to crash. I think everyone should be "required" to ride a bicycle or motorcycle part of the time so we get the idea that crashing is not something that you want to do. Instead we drive with cell phones to our ears, so we can do something other than pay attention to what we are supposed to be doing (driving), GPS so we don't have to pay attention to where we are going, and humongous balloon equipped heavy vehicles so that crashing is no big deal.

I don't want a car that's designed to be safe for driving into the water. And I don't think that people in Death Valley should be required to have all the equipment that I want for keeping my vehicle on the road on steep icy hills in whiteout visibility. I don't want laws protecting me or anybody else from our own ignorance. But this is America, and I like it.

Now back to that spandex boat-tail...

[Arragonis]

Originally Posted by thatguitarguy

The point is the reason the super efficient vehicles in Europe can't be imported into the USA is because the laws mandate that we have a one size fits all approach to our cars.

Hmmm. No - that would be the manufacturers and importers.

For example

NCAP - European safety testing similar to US standards.

Smart Car - If you can get a Smart Car in the US with its highly suspect front end handling, I see no reason why the Toyota Aygo (for example) can't be sold there.

It (the Aygo) has the lightest 1.0 and most powerful 1.0 engine in the world, apparently. And Citroen sell a Diesel one.