Pictures The Wind Tunnel Picture Thread

[Bruce]

Was just looking at my thread in "The Pit" about aerodynamics, i though it would be interesting to have a thread based purely on pictures of vehicles going through wind tunnels. Hope you guys like!!



All expect the last are from my personal collection (in this first post)









^^ Thanks to "ZondaDude" on SuperCarFrance

 

[Alx]

very cool photos....

 

[Bruce]

^^ Glad you like Alex

Here's some more, but they are small! The beauty of Google








^^Diablo Prototype i believe

 

[Bruce]

 

[Bruce]

I cut this from Sport Auto's test of the GT3RS.

 

[Bruce]

SSC Ultimate Aero, from SSC site.

 

[Germaniac]

So what do the lines actually show - can they be objectively measured and stuff? coz it looks to me like they just mirror the shape of the car, couldn't it all be done through computer modelling?

looks mad though

 

[Bruce]

So what do the lines actually show - can they be objectively measured and stuff? coz it looks to me like they just mirror the shape of the car, couldn't it all be done through computer modelling?

looks mad though

Firstly, i must say, i'm no aerodynamics's expert But yes, the lines actually do measure drag co and lift and downforce figures. A lot of the times computer modelling is done, but i think most companies aim for real wind tunnel testing.

 

[Monster]

The lines do mean something. You can tell which car has the lowest drag coefficient by the seperation points between the lines. Look at the pictures of the A2, The seperation points of the lines are very near the end of the car, which mean the car has a low drag coefficient. When you compare that to the Zonda, you can see the point of seperation is located just behind the cockpit, which shows the car has a high degree of aero drag. You can see the flow of the lines become very turbulent after that seperation point.

 

[Bruce]

The lines do mean something. You can tell which car has the lowest drag coefficient by the seperation points between the lines. Look at the pictures of the A2, The seperation points of the lines are very near the end of the car, which mean the car has a low drag coefficient. When you compare that to the Zonda, you can see the point of seperation is located just behind the cockpit, which shows the car has a high degree of aero drag. You can see the flow of the lines become very turbulent after that seperation point.

Thanks for more explanation monster

I know Gordon Murray had said that the Zonda's steep cockpit towards the rear caused aero seperation, in fact he said it was the same thing for the Veyron, if it had a flat engine cover the drag could have been reduced.

 

[Monster]

 

[Bruce]

Excellent bunch of stuff dude

 

[DaSilva]

 

[Bruce]

Thanks, Julius