Formula One might cultivate a reputation as the pinnacle of motorsports, the most technically advanced series out there. But it still makes remarkably dumb errors, which gave us this wonderful little not-a-cheat about tiny vents in the floor.

The Lotus Esprit’s initial design was a classic shape, one that Lotus didn’t want to change for a good three decades. Except when the 1981 Esprit Turbo added a big duck tail spoiler in the back, Lotus designers had to block it with another, smaller hidden spoiler. Why? Too much downforce.

While things have been more fortunate this year, most of the 2017 Formula One season was an absolute parade. The numbers backed that up, with overtaking stats dropping in half from the year before. Now F1 just slipped new aero rules by to promote more passing next year, even as teams oppose them.

Every automaker is desperate nowadays to find new ways of gaining fuel efficiency, especially now that electric cars are beginning to carve out a corner of the market. Some new cars, like the Tesla Model 3, come with cool space-age looking aerodynamic wheel covers to be more efficient—but why doesn’t every new car do…

Don’t feel bad. Everybody sucks at aerodynamics. Well, I guess people who have actually studied aerodynamics don’t, but as far as us normal, everyday jackasses? We’re terrible. Or at least, I am, when it comes to looking at cars and guessing how aerodynamic they are.

You never really know how how much race cars depend on their aerodynamics until they suddenly snap off at high speed.

Porsches have had active aero elements since 1989, when the Porsche 964s were equipped with an electrically-activated rear wing, a feature nearly all 911s have had since. A new patent suggests that all those bits under the bumper may be getting jealous, as the patent covers an active rear diffuser setup.

Formula One’s preseason tests have proven the cars are faster, with Valtteri Bottas crushing Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya’s all-time track record earlier this week. However, they’ve also proven some of our worst fears about the thing that makes racing actually fun to watch: overtaking. These new cars look cool, but…

Shortly after the unveiling of Tesla’s Model 3 earlier this month, Elon Musk took to Twitter in a storm of information about the new car, mentioning that the target drag coefficient was 0.21. If that target makes it to production, it would make the Model 3 the most aerodynamic high-volume production car ever made.…

If you’ve never seen a car set up for a banked oval up close before, it’s fascinating to see just how much of the car is set up to help it turn in one direction. Here’s a few interesting little details from NASCAR’s weekend at Texas Motor Speedway.

Keeping race cars grounded to the ground requires thorough aerodynamic engineering and research. That can lead to both crazy-successful aero pieces and some totally sci-fi technological dead-ends. These ten wind-cutting cars fit in perfectly.

In a perfect race car design world, all shapes would be clean, and you’d need just one wing out back, one wing up front, and a smooth envelope of a car in between. But race car design is never perfect.

The extremely dull race known as the 2015 Pure Michigan 400 was a dumpster fire at best. Please send firefighters, and let us never speak of this particular high-downforce rules package again. Thanks in advance.

This is Monster Tajima (of Pikes Peak fame) on a qualifying run up the longest all-gravel hillclimb in the world. And here’s his car tearing apart on the course.

[Ferrari was particularly proud of their underbody air management for the 550 Maranello. The whole thing looks like a nice sweet skidplate to me. Anyone up for rallycross? Photo: Ferrari]

[This is what Nissan's wind tunnel controls looked like back in 1980. An F30 Leopard sits in as the test vehicle. Photo Credit: Nissan]

Aerodynamics are so hot right now— the EU just drafted a law that would make their commercial trucks sleeker and safer, which could go into effect by 2022.