aerodynamic drag and body style

[Steve Polhill]

Originally Posted by Dragsinger

Stan,

somewhere I saw a chart about body styles and aero drag. [may have been your chart]
that chart showed the 3rd gen Camaro with a relatively low COD and the 3rd gen Firebird among the lowest.

I have even considered installing a 3rd gen Firebird ft fenders and facia on my Camaro. Would doing that be worth the effort plus finding a Firebird ft and painting it?

Is the frontal drag the most critical? With rear drag less of an issue?

Hey Larry watch this video. in this case the front end was a disaster for drag but the most gains were picked up with work done on the rear of the car.

[Stan Weiss]

Some numbers I have.

'84 Firebird Trans Am W62 Aero 0.30
No numbers for a '84 Camaro

'88 Firebird Trans Am GTA 0.31
'88 Camaro IROC 0.34

'91 Firebird Trans Am GTA 0.31
No numbers for a '91 Camaro

Stan

[junior barns]

non-issue! unless you are running 130 mph in my opinion

[Lee Valentine]

Seems like a lot of over thinking for an eighth mile bracket car.

[Dragsinger]

Lee, overthinking is one of my high skills. And I think overthinking is a common trait for many hot rodders. I point to stockers, got to be one of the most overthought packages ever. However, overthinking often leads to success.

[Dragsinger]

Stan,

1982 Camaro Berlinita

[jimmyparker]

An 1/8th mile bracket car will only be on the track for six seconds or so and a large portion of the run will be at a much lower speed than finish line speed which would make aerodynamics less important. I agree with Lee.

[Dissident]

When considering aerodynamics of drag racing cars/trucks, etc. The assumption of aerodynamic drag only has an effect at speed is incorrect. One can think of the issue becoming important at any speed over 40mph and the aero drag resistance is exponential to the speed very closely following the square law and more. That becomes a lot of free power by cleaning up (legally of course) the aerodynamic drag for the vehicle. Lots of rules of aero thumb to apply, but it is best to study and learn what can help with the selection of vehicles and how to improve them. An example is: external rear view mirrors cost about 0.6% in drag power.
Regards,
HB2
Dissident

[FED 387]

also tire width ,fender flares, ground effects ,spoilers, unnecessary openings in the grille area, upward lift attitude of the front end at speed as opposed to downward attitude--elimination of any unnecessary body parts ( mirrors etc.) ---all these affect airflow over under and around the vehicle ---You want to make the vehicle silohuette as smooth as possible ( within any rules restrictions course)--as vehicle speed increases it becomes of paramount importance to consider all of these----look at a jellybean as opposed to a brick and or a Corvette vs. a Van and you will get the idea--- modern auto manufacturers go to great lengths in "styling" their products not only for looks but to achieve the tinyest of drag reductions to increase fuel mileage

[gsa612]

Back in the day a few stock and S/S cars ran a vinyl roof claiming the pebble on the texture was worth some MPH,however small the gain was.FWIW,Jason Line's Buick GS has a vinyl roof...gsa612