Random UnAerodynamic Cars and Trucks Thread

[kach22i]

Looks like a last ditch attempt at marketing to me.

December 5th, 2016
https://newatlas.com/corbin-sparrow-...dimples/46775/

Mike Corbin with the Sparrow 2, the first car to feature aerodynamic turbulators similar to a golf ball for maximum aerodynamic efficiency(Credit: Loz Blain/NewAtlas)

[freebeard]

The first three or four rows may have some effect, everything rearward-facing is for looks. Do you think the active band should be before or after maximum width?

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by freebeard

The first three or four rows may have some effect, everything rearward-facing is for looks. Do you think the active band should be before or after maximum width?

They seem to be places in all the right places, but what's up with the dimples just under the windshield?

More pictures:
https://newatlas.com/corbin-sparrow-...46775/#gallery

[freebeard]

I'd call those all the wrong places and cite aerohead (92012)

I want to tread lightly here,but according to boundary layer theory,once critical velocity is attained,and the boundary layer is turbulent,all structures will follow the 115-degree rule,regardless as to whether they're a plane,car,or submarine.
If air,or any 'fluid' is attacking a particular curve,of any given radius,if 'zero' is the forward stagnation point,the 'fluid' MUST separate at 115-degrees of rotation beyond the stagnation point.
Example: if an analog wristwatch is moving from right to left,and the air first strikes at the 9:00 position,the air will not be able to remain attached beyond 4-seconds after 12:00.By the way,the angle at the separation point is 22-degrees.

Not to put my own spin on holy writ, but I interpret '4-seconds after' as the second hand being at 115° (60/4=15: QED).

There is a ring of dimples that are effective on a golf ball, the others are along for the ride. Like the rear-facing ones on the tail and fenders, and in the high-pressure bubble at the base of the windshield. IOW all of them. The doors and roof would be targets of opportunity.

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by freebeard

I'd call those all the wrong places and cite aerohead (92012)

Well, there are no "right places", just right places according to a flawed concept.

If this decoration helps them sell a few more units, then its working.

[RedDevil]

Originally Posted by kach22i

Looks like a last ditch attempt at marketing to me.

December 5th, 2016
https://newatlas.com/corbin-sparrow-...dimples/46775/

The dimples will make it fly further when it spins through the air.

[gumby79]

Wouldn the dimples not act as Vortex generators at the point where their slope has exceeded attachment capabilities causing the air to pull around the overly sharp radius?

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by gumby79

Wouldn the dimples not act as Vortex generators at the point where their slope has exceeded attachment capabilities causing the air to pull around the overly sharp radius?

Yes, and that's when you turn the wheel hard to the left and make it spin to get the most out of it.

[freebeard]

http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2018/03/the-wright-brothers-had-really-good.html

Gustave Whitehead, a German immigrant, successfully flew his plane, known as No. 21 or “The Condor,” early on the morning of August 14, 1901, achieving a flight of some 1.5 miles at a height of 150 feet in the skies over Bridgeport.
...
His U.S. aviation ‘firsts’ numbered more than 20. They included, to name but a few,
aluminum in engines and propellers,
wheels for takeoff and landing,
ground-adjustable propeller pitch,
individual control of propellers (to aid in directional control),
folding wings for towing on roads (resulting in what was possibly the world’s first roadable airplane),
silk for wing covering,
and concrete for a runway.
...
The craft had two engines-a ground engine and a flying engine. Both were fueled by the same calcium carbide (acetylene) generator. The ground engine was used for traveling on the plane’s four wheels to test sites and during the takeoff roll.

At liftoff, fuel to the ground engine was valved off, with all power then going to the main, or flight, engine. The engines were’steam type,’ except that Whitehead used the expansion forces of acetylene instead of the much heavier steam system he had used in Pittsburgh.

Long story (as it goes) short; the world's first airplane and the first flying car?

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by freebeard

Long story (as it goes) short; the world's first airplane and the first flying car?

Interesting, I had only read the account of the steam-powered aircraft - a two seater!

The Case for Gustave Whitehead

1899 — "...in the Oakland suburb of Pittsburgh in the Spring of 1899, [a]…steam-driven model had carried him and his assistant a distance of almost a mile. Firemen…lent their assistance that time to start the machine, while the assistant fed charcoal to the flame which heated water in the ordinary kitchen boiler which they were using. …[A]s they went onward and upward, steered by Gustave Whitehead at the controls in the front, they exceeded the distance originally planned and found themselves headed for a three-story brick house. Afraid to attempt to swerve, there was but one hope, namely that they might clear the top of the house. But they failed. Down fell the machine, all but demolished, while the agonized fireman in the back writhed with the pain of a scalded leg."

A steam engine built by Whitehead. This was similar to the steam engines used by Locomobile, a Bridgeport automobile manufacturer where he had worked.

I'd say in order to fly one must have some mastery of aerodynamics, the folded wings would be an issue for land transport surface area drag wise.

The two engines, one for land use - do you think this was just to get it up a hill (in lieu of a winch) so they could race down like when launching a glider, or was it getting to the launch site under it's own power?

The ground engine was used for traveling on the plane’s four wheels to test sites and during the takeoff roll.

Traveling to test sites............traveling along roads.........or........traveling from road up a hill to test site?