aero edge ??

[DNA RACING]

hey guys,
this sounds kinda far out, but bare with me.
the reason a golf ball travles so far is mostly because it has all the little dimples in it, it is a proven fact. The mythbusters extrapolated that principal with a full sized car with the dimples on it, it got something like 15% better mileage than the same car without the clay and alot lighter. again, a proven fact.
would a PWD car with a scaled down pattern also be faster ? looking at it from the two examples above, the answer is YES. but as we know, a good idea on paper does not always work in real life.
I am looking for any practical thoughts on this issue. I have acquired some 3/64" aluminum that is perforated with small holes and was thinking of redoing Mother, Jugs & Speed for a concept Street Stock at the CFC. I am just wondering if i would be wasting my time. I figure when i clear it the holes would acquire a rounded edge making them match the golf ball style.

I will post a pic of the stuff in a few mins.
B

 

[DNA RACING]

here are the plates.

 

[Chief]

[font="times new roman, times, serif"]Ya know, I saw that on the myth-busters and I wanted to do that a couple of years ago on a PWD car, and my dad the avid golfer asked me this, "the golf ball is round and spins in flight, you have a flat block of wood that does not spin, so how much wind resistance do you think you will gain not spinning and being flat?" I still dont know, but if nothing else I think if you painted it white and put a DNA logo on it like a golf ball it would look frickin awesome!!![/font]

 

[DNA RACING]

Ya know, I saw that on the myth-busters and I wanted to do that a couple of years ago on a PWD car, and my dad the avid golfer asked me this, "the golf ball is round and spins in flight, you have a flat block of wood that does not spin, so how much wind resistance do you think you will gain not spinning and being flat?" I still dont know, but if nothing else I think if you painted it white and put a DNA logo on it like a golf ball it would look frickin awesome!!!

well, the myth buster car did not spin and was kinda sorta flat and it worked for a prof of concept. i like the white paint idea though. maybe red underneath and white on top.

hey sparky , i need a golfball looking DNA logo.......

 

[Kinser Racing]

I worked with the idea for over a year and I was never able to get a working model on a car body. I even made molds to simulate the dimples. It was either to heavy, to cost restrictive, or downright to much of a pain for what it was worth. They were traveling at 60mph, in a not so aerodynamic car, a golf ball travels much faster than that. I think with the aero that we have on our cars already, at 13mph, that it would be a game of diminishing returns.

 

[DNA RACING]

guess i could just bite the bullet and give it a whirl at the CFC and see what happens......worst i could do is tie with Derby Freak...

 

[Kinser Racing]

Are they .125" holes? If I was going to do it, I would countersink all of the holes. It would remove a lot of the weight and give you a more realistic dimple.

 

[DNA RACING]

no, they are .09375 ( 3/32") i do agree with counter sinking them though. boy, thats going to be a job.......

 

[Chief]

[font="times new roman, times, serif"]I agree with Kinser. That is what I wanted to do but I was going to sand the dimples into some body filler on the car but then I thought about after about the fifth row or so I would be frustrated with it... either way I still think it will look cooler than a fan!!![/font]

 

[Guest]

Brian,

Just to let you know, the golf ball concept was tried in PWD and did not improve the car at all. I do think it looks cool but it just did not help the car perform any better. Here is the pic of Andy Lester's car. He made it look pretty awesome with the laser.

Ian

 

[Kinser Racing]

Thanks for the pic Ian! /images/boards/smilies/thumb.gif

 

[SoGone]

Geezz.. I smell something burning.. Is that you DNA thinkin' hard again?

As the mad scientist would say "It sounds crazy but it might work"

 

[Chief]

[font="times new roman, times, serif"]OOOOOH I like that kind of thinking...HAHAHA[/font]

Geezz.. I smell something burning.. Is that you DNA thinkin' hard again?

As the mad scientist would say "It sounds crazy but it might work"

 

[DNA RACING]

is that a plate on Andys car, or lazer burnt holes?

 

[DNA RACING]

also, it does not look like the holes are very deep. its kinda hard to tell.

 

[SoGone]

Just givin you the business DNA!!

I'm jealous you whip my tail in Street stock.. You are truly one of the most passionate guys in this hobby!

 

[Guest]

is that a plate on Andys car, or lazer burnt holes?

Brian,

Yes, that is a plate that he laser cuts. The holes are about the same as a golf ball. The laser can burn to a certain depth as well as cut all the way through. So he set it up to laser burn the dimples after he watch the same episode of Myth Busters as you are talking about.

Ian

 

[DerbyDad4Hire]

One thing to think about... I am sure there is a science to the size of dimple and the pattern of the dimples. If you take the hypothesis of the Pythagorean theorem and extrapolate that by the square route of 43 then the particle menstruator will comply with the figulator and then the results will be tangible.

A quick shout out to my friends on derbytalk.

 

[Chief]

One thing to think about... I am sure there is a science to the size of dimple and the pattern of the dimples. If you take the hypothesis of the Pythagorean theorem and extrapolate that by the square route of 43 then the particle menstruator will comply with the figulator and then the results will be tangible.

A quick shout out to my friends on derbytalk.

I think there was a video on something like that...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIS5n9Oyzsc

 

[derby freak]

Brian if you want some dimples on your car i have an easier solution. Just put a few pea gravel in the lane my car will be running in and while your car is behind mine all the way down the track, next month, yours will get dusted with the gravel and will be pitted up real good.

After your car finally crosses the finish line just pick out the embedded gravel and there you go, a golf ball car.