Random Aerodynamic Oddity of the Day Thread

[kach22i]

Something tells me the CDA of this is pretty darn low.

https://www.mensjournal.com/adventur...970s-tiny-van/

It houses a 25-horsepower two-stroke flat-twin engine that struggles to keep up with modern traffic … And 60 mph is about its top speed. ...........

Sitting essentially on top of the front 10-inch tires, the driver feels the ride like nothing else.

[kach22i]

Could be fake, I did not research the topic, just got a kick out of it.

https://forums.pelicanparts.com/off-...ures-2654.html


Edit: Looks to be legitimate.


Bob Osiecki’s Mad Dog IV, Chrysler Powered Speed Winner
https://www.streetmusclemag.com/feat...-speed-winner/

Others had taken turns making laps while attempting to break the record, most of which ended up with the cars going into a spin due to instability. Osiecki had a plan to eliminate the problem of high speed instability, however. Creating a tail stabilizer, like aircraft use, he shipped the assembly to Georgia Tech where the engineering students built a mock-up of the roadster and tested the aerodynamics in a wind tunnel. The testing showed the car builder where to place the stabilizer, wings and what angle the wings should be at for different speeds............

Aircraft wings are designed to produce lift, the exact thing that Osiecki was trying to avoid. He solved the problem by mounting the stubby wings upside down, which produced a downforce of 1,000 pounds of pressure at each wheel at 200 mph......................

[kach22i]

https://forums.pelicanparts.com/off-...ures-2653.html

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by kach22i

https://www.mensjournal.com/adventur...970s-tiny-van/

Finding tires suitable for it would be a PITA, as the only manufacturer with road-legal 10-inch tires available in my country, and at such a premium cost, is Yokohama, catering to original Mini collectors. 12-inch is also not easy to find, yet one factory located in my state that caters mostly to the motorcycle market released a bias-ply 12-inch tire intended for those Chinese cargo tricycles that appear once in a while.

About the engine, AFAIK the kei models from Subaru never featured any flat engine, only inlines. Would be interesting to see how some updates such as that transfer-port injection featured to some new KTM motorcycles could do for that beauty though...

[kach22i]

https://www.hemmings.com/stories/201...ut-up-ferraris

Much like other three-wheelers we've come across - including the Arrowhead and the Erickson streamliners, Frank Mayes decided to make his reverse trike, built in the late 1940s, with front-wheel drive and rear-wheel steering. That and a 1948 design patent are about all David Greenlees at The Old Motor has turned up on it so far.

Update-it survived ** Frank Mayes Homemade Three-Wheeler
March 29, 2012
https://theoldmotor.com/?p=45588

[freebeard]

Frank Mayes decided to make his reverse trike, built in the late 1940s, with front-wheel drive and rear-wheel steering.

Sounds like an open-air Dymaxion.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by freebeard

Sounds like an open-air Dymaxion.

Or a piggy-back forklift

[bandit86]

https://m.facebook.com/marketplace/i...5284088358842/

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Makes me wonder how bad the auxiliary side wheels would drag while cornering.

[j-c-c]

Originally Posted by kach22i

Could be fake, I did not research the topic, just got a kick out of it.

https://forums.pelicanparts.com/off-...ures-2654.html


Edit: Looks to be legitimate.


Bob Osiecki’s Mad Dog IV, Chrysler Powered Speed Winner
https://www.streetmusclemag.com/feat...-speed-winner/

I saw the car in person as kid at Daytona in the paddock sitting on an open trailer not long after it ran for the closed course record. As a kid at the time, it was awesome. I knew the guy who purchased it 20? years ago in East Tampa. I believe it had two big block engines, a FI Olds and a blown 413 Chrysler.