Anyone tried this?

[Crash Enburn]

tracks run slower at seal level

*insert only seal joke I know*

A penguin is having car problems so pulls into the service station in a small town. The mechanic takes a look, and tells the penguin that it'd take about an hour or so, gets the penguin's number, and tells him he'll call when he's finished.

The penguin sees an ice cream stand across the way and goes in for a cone. Not too long after, the mechanic calls, and the penguin goes back over. The mechanic says, "It looks like you blew a seal."

"What? Oh! No. It's just ice cream."

 

[speed bump]

Br your are correct air density in a 66 degree room is .0745 and at 78 is .0725. Density altitude is higher but the cubic air density is lower.

 

[Guest]

YOU'S ALL TRI TO MAK DIS HER COMPLIKATD DON YA? MAK YOUSELV A LITLE WEDGY CAR AN WIN!

 

[Guest]

.

 

[GravityX]

This thread has been an interesting read thus far.

Regarding the "dorsal fin" on the topside of the car, this is something I've thought about in the past but did not know how to employ the idea. Now, depending on the size of this dorsal fin, would this help stabilize the car in traffic or worsen the effects of the dirty airflow onto the car? I'm sure there is a fine line here when it comes to the correct size dorsal fin. Would you run this the entire length of the car, as depicted earlier, or like aircraft and only at the rear tail section? Or just do as nature does an put it in the middle of the back like fish? But this I believe is fluid dynamics and not aerodynamics. Can they even be compared?

Interesting concept depicted in the picture of the raised wheel vs. on the ground airflow. Realizing it's only a depiction of what may be happening it still makes you think how the smallest of things effect these little cars. I could only imagine what a car may look like if someone in the field of aerodynamic design was involved in this hobby.

 

[Guest]

Very descriptive GX and a good analogy! To further extrapolate upon said analogy, maybe a small "adipose" fin behind the dorsal may be beneficial.

 

[Guest]

They scanned athletes in 3-D, creating avatars so computational fluid dynamics software could uncover where turbulence and drag were being created, similar to racing car teams that use aerodynamic modeling. “We found the head and goggles created huge amounts of turbulence at the top of the body, and this slowed down the swimmer and decreased the effect of the suit,” Santry says. “So much like a Formula 1 car, which has this wing that allows you to set up airflow, we realized we needed something like that for a swimmer.”

 

[ChrisF]

But this I believe is fluid dynamics and not aerodynamics. Can they even be compared?

fluid dynamics would be the general field. Aerodynamics,is a subset. Hydrodynamics (water) is another subset that is less applicable because water has some significant differences. (Much denser than air, and not compressible)

 

[GravityX]

But this I believe is fluid dynamics and not aerodynamics. Can they even be compared?

fluid dynamics would be the general field. Aerodynamics,is a subset. Hydrodynamics (water) is another subset that is less applicable because water has some significant differences. (Much denser than air, and not compressible)

Thanks for the correction, I knew that. I had writer's block searching for that word, hydrodynamic, when I was writing that out. Thanks!

 

[ChrisF]

...I knew you knew that, but was sharing that for the others that might mot have.../images/boards/smilies/wink.gif

 

[Bullet]

If I was going to try the fin thing, I would probably start with a short (in height) fin and extend length and angle to get drift. Too tall might cause more instability or wobble just from the weight and the moment arm of the drag on the fin...like the minivan with the mattress in the movie "Cars"!!! lol

 

[Guest]

I wonder if a "winglet" (horizontally mounted) on top of the fin would help its performance? Like how sometimes at the tip of jet wings there is that vertical winglet allowing for reduced wing length.

 

[ChrisF]

aksnowfun,
Aerodynamic control surface to me in the end says drag. I'd be asking whether the toll of this drag in the name of steering overcomes the redundancy with the existing method (which doesn't carry a drag toll as far as I can tell).

Kinser,
[video]http://youtu.be/ss2hULhXf04[/video]
Thank you for the timely reminder that there are other things that I have set aside, and need to get back to.

 

[Bullet]

Looks like more fun stuff to do also! I would agree with you on the extra drag...it was mentioned earlier I believe what the trade off would be versus a steerable wheel. Everyone stresses the importance of alignment on the rears, maybe a purposely misaligned steering wheel has as much or more drag than a fin? who knows...but the side force to steer a car, no matter where it comes from, would be adding drag somewhere. There would be an equal and opposite force somewhere to make up for it if the steer setting was the same. Both methods would be translating forward motion to side motion....maybe it all works out the same??? The key may be to take some kind of drag that already exists, and use it for the powers of good rather than evil...like a guy earlier posted a picture of fenders angled on one side only, that type of thing, think it would take more area than one fender though.

 

[ChrisF]

...it was mentioned earlier I believe what the trade off would be versus a steerable wheel

oops...missed that during all that Balls of Butter distraction.

p.s. I got extra skegs I can contribute to the research!

 

[Bullet]

I really need to get a track, or find someone up here that has one...seems like its impossible to find a second hand track out there. My wife has warmed up to the idea now. Just buy a new one I guess, or win one at Nationals?? /images/boards/smilies/biggrin.gif

I was the asst PWD chair for our pack race this year...the chair has the track in his crawlspace and not really into it. Would it be cheesy to ask him if I could "store" it?? lol It's a 4-lane 35 ft Best track with champ timer. They already think I'm nuts over PWD...we took 1st and 2nd the last two years.

Lots of ideas and no way to test them. Since I am new to the league stuff, a lot has probably been tried, but as Kinser said earlier, small differences can make or break it!

 

[Guest]

I really need to get a track, or find someone up here that has one...seems like its impossible to find a second hand track out there. My wife has warmed up to the idea now. Just buy a new one I guess, or win one at Nationals?? /images/boards/smilies/biggrin.gif

I was the asst PWD chair for our pack race this year...the chair has the track in his crawlspace and not really into it. Would it be cheesy to ask him if I could "store" it?? lol It's a 4-lane 35 ft Best track with champ timer. They already think I'm nuts over PWD...we took 1st and 2nd the last two years.

Lots of ideas and no way to test them. Since I am new to the league stuff, a lot has probably been tried, but as Kinser said earlier, small differences can make or break it!

Doom, Duh Doom Doom

 

[3phase]

In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is.

Yogi Berra

 

[Spirit Racing]

AKSNOWFUN, work on the PWD chairman's wife, she would love to get it out of her house

That's how I got my first track, I used it for 5 years

....SPIRIT....

 

[speed bump]

A winglet on an aircraft is used to reduce wingtip vortex. That is its sole purpose in life which equals less drag= better fuel eco. Look at the new trailer trucks now they have box fins on the back of the trailer. That is to release the air flow in a smoother flow = less drag= better fuel eco.

Any 90 degree part on a aircraft = drag

Ps I work a aircraft that we race in Reno Nevada every year. Just taping over a paint line will get u one to two miles per hour. I have built special fairings to reduce drag and it the shape of them that works.

I think a very small straight fin on the top of the car where the 90 degree is would keep the air from being disturbed. Less air is moved or disturbed = less drag.

Old blue T-6 Reno third place last year 213.6 mph, Looking for first this year.