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…
If you’ve ever been blasted by the downwash of a drone when it flies over you, you know how much air four spinning rotors can move. But to help improve the design and flight characteristics of future drones, NASA had its supercomputers simulate what that air movement actually looks like, and it’s impossibly complex.
But how, you may be asking, do we bring back fast, attractive, competitive sports cars in a modern age of aerodynamically driven racing design and engineering? The answer is so simple, I’m surprised no one’s mentioned it.
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.
Happy Sunday! Welcome to Holy Shift, where we highlight big innovations in the auto and racing industries each week—whether they be necessary or simply for comfort.
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.
Smoke and lasers take this model aircraft from looking good to gorgeous. The flow visualization was part of high speed research on the F-16 Scamp conducted at NASA’s Langeley Research Center in 1992.
Film noir set or serious aerodynamics research facility? NASA blended the two in this enormous wind tunnel, the historical facility used to test the aerodynamics of everything from the Corsair through hypersonic aircraft, and the DHC-5 Buffalo through Saturn rockets.
Oh, wow. Aerodynamics research has never looked as pretty as it does with this new variation of an old technique for imaging supersonic shockwaves.
Technical innovation is what makes Formula 1 so different from any other form of racing. The on track action is as much played out by the engineers and aerodynamicists as it is the drivers. We are here to admire, study, and discuss this beauty that exists on the ragged edge of what we think is possible, or at least…
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 squid took his motorcycle up to 150 mph without a helmet or goggles or any kind of protection from the wind. Let's learn from his stupidity.
In the 1930's car manufactures finally started to pay attention to how their automobiles move through the air, instead of just making boxes on wheels. It became stylish to drive a car that had no flat surfaces whatsoever. Heacock offers an extensive history if you're interested.
