A source of large amount of drag force is the complex flow in the wheelhouses. Covering the wheelhouses may stabilize the flow in those areas and reduce drag very significantly. However, styling and functional issues (front turning wheels) often make it hard to implement this solution.
I got the 3-piece boat tail built and installed. Installed the first two pieces on thursday and drove through the weekend with it. At 28F, the car coasted as well as it used to at 90F and at 50F it coasted much better than it did at 90F. The boat tail has caused the greatest improvement in coasting ability of any single aero mode that I have installed so far. With the 2 pieces installed, I can still use the back hatch. This monday I built and installed the 3rd part (tail cone) of the boat tail, but with all of the rain today it was impossible to tell if it made any difference. The boat tail is made of an auminum bar frame covered with coroplast (bottom) and clear vinyl (upper portion). The clear vinyl makes it possible for me to see out the back and so I didn't need to relocate the tail lights and license plate. I used the Questair Venture tail cone as a model for the shape of my boat tail and did a quick run with taped yarn to test the air flow over the parts that I can see through the rear window (attached air flow all of the way to the tip). Lets see if I can get these picture to work.
]
I can't wait to see what kind of results you get with that. Somebody donate a SuperMID to basjoos.
Linear Mode
