Scott;
If you mean "How well did the Chaparral's approach work?" the answer is
that it worked so well that the rules were changed to ban it.
Any little improvement (if it is an improvement) in that low pressure
area will boost top speed. Stability is primarily a matter of having the
center of pressure (CP) well behind the center of mass (CM or CG) but
other things also contribute to stability.
Regards, Neil Tucson, AZ
-----Original Message-----
From: Scott Cowle [mailto:SCowle@mentorcollege.edu]
Sent: Wednesday, November 09, 2005 9:13 AM
To: Albaugh, Neil
Cc: land-speed@autox.team.net
Subject: RE: drag behind a car
Neil, how well did that approach work? Is there ways of maybe not
eliminating all of the low pressure area but would say a 10% reduction
be effective, ie, felt in terms of speed or stability?How much do you
have to do to see results?
Scott
>>> "Albaugh, Neil" <albaugh_neil@ti.com> 11/9/2005 11:13 AM >>>
Scott;
I think the airflow required to flow through an internal duct to relieve
that low -pressure area behind a car would be enormous. Shaping the
bodywork to allow the external airflow over the body to smoothly merge
into the area behind the car is what will keep that area from creating a
very low pressure. Doing that without creating parasitic drag is the
difficult trick.
Take a look at Jim Hall's last Chaparral-- the intent of those blowers
was to create a low- pressure area under the car for downforce but their
exhausts were into the rear low- pressure area behind the car-- a
"twofer."
Regards, Neil Tucson, AZ
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