With the pressure to get as good a gas mileage as possible I expect they
figured out how to keep the drag numbers low. One thing I noticed is how many
more bugs the roadster collects compared to a modern car. I suspect this
is due to abrupt changes in air flow direction particularly in the
windshield area. The bugs being denser than air cannot keep up and end up
against
the windshield. Modern cars with smoother flow carry the bugs around the car
better. This airflow improvement should produce less drag.
keith
In a message dated 9/8/2009 10:59:45 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
gboone70@yahoo.com writes:
Hey roadster fans,
Just a little trivia here. I'm sure everyone has noticed that over the
last 3 to 5 years that front end body designs have transformed from a wedge
shape to a very blunt front shape, starting with European cars. I read in
one of the car magazines at least 5 years ago, that this concept of a blunt
front end started in Germany because of the need to reduce the severity of
injury to pedestrians when they get hit by a car. I think that may not be
a totally legitimate reason for designing a car with a blunt front end
body design when it increases the cars' coefficient of drag as opposed to a
wedge shape. It seems it would be detrimental to fuel mileage and
performance at higher speeds. Pedestrians need to be smarter in my opinion.
Now
the Asian and American car makers are adopting the same body design. I
have not checked out the coefficient of drag on the modern cars. Car
magazines once upon a time would publish the coefficient of drag but not
anymore. Maybe the engineers have figured out a way to make a front
blunt just as aerodynamic as a wedge front end. Anyone seen any coefficient
of
drag data on these blunt cars? BTW, our roadsters have that blunt front
end. Is there any published info on coefficient of drag on Datsun
roadsters?
Gary
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