Do wheel skirts really work? - Page 4 - Fuelly Forums

Click here to see important news regarding the aCar App

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
 
Old 04-03-2007, 04:16 PM   #31
Registered Member
 
trebuchet03's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 812
Country: United States
Send a message via AIM to trebuchet03
Quote:
Originally Posted by MetroMPG View Post
So your front wheels will be exposed & disc covered? GoOne style?
Yep. Minus the suspension :P


mind you, this is not the most up to date version - but the overall shape has stayed the same.


I really wish I had the money -- I'd buy a model of my car, build a water tunnel (which can be done cheaply with decent flow visualization results) and test :P You can even tackle the cross wind scenarios I didn't even think of those situations until now :P
__________________

__________________
Time is the best teacher. Unfortunately it kills all its students.


Bike Miles (Begin Aug. 20 - '07): ~433.2 miles

11/12
trebuchet03 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-03-2007, 04:19 PM   #32
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 1,978
Country: United States
Rudder

I'm constantly complaining, with the crosswinds, that I need a rudder.

I've got it -- 4-wheel steering, and you aim the front of the car into the wind, and drive "straight". Gusts, however, would be a problem

RH77
__________________

__________________
rh77 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-03-2007, 04:22 PM   #33
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 1,978
Country: United States
Quote:
Originally Posted by theclencher View Post
Just have castering rear wheels and toe brakes for each front wheel... and be an alert driver!
I think you just found the next competitive motorsport! It's got to be harder than drifting
__________________
rh77 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-03-2007, 05:03 PM   #34
Registered Member
 
trebuchet03's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 812
Country: United States
Send a message via AIM to trebuchet03
Quote:
Originally Posted by rh77 View Post
I'm constantly complaining, with the crosswinds, that I need a rudder.

I've got it -- 4-wheel steering, and you aim the front of the car into the wind, and drive "straight". Gusts, however, would be a problem

RH77
I think this fiat can do that :P
__________________
Time is the best teacher. Unfortunately it kills all its students.


Bike Miles (Begin Aug. 20 - '07): ~433.2 miles

11/12
trebuchet03 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-03-2007, 05:13 PM   #35
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 1,978
Country: United States
Perfect!

Quote:
Originally Posted by trebuchet03 View Post
Perfect! Where can I get one?
__________________
rh77 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-03-2007, 05:19 PM   #36
Registered Member
 
trebuchet03's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 812
Country: United States
Send a message via AIM to trebuchet03
Quote:
Originally Posted by rh77 View Post
Perfect! Where can I get one?
Poland I'm told :P Only a limited number manufactured.... 1
__________________
Time is the best teacher. Unfortunately it kills all its students.


Bike Miles (Begin Aug. 20 - '07): ~433.2 miles

11/12
trebuchet03 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-04-2007, 07:55 AM   #37
Semi-retired OPEC Buster
 
BeeUU's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 200
Country: United States
Quote:
Originally Posted by theclencher View Post
I'll take a stab at it although I won't claim to know for sure what the heck is going on there!

It's an exhaust duct and for whatever reason, instead of exhausting air at the rear or top of the bodywork (don't the rest of the cars do that?), the spot in front of the rear tire was chosen, so to promote flow through their "closed" ducting system and also reduce drag from the outlet on back they had to add the skirts. (?)
Generally, during a race the tires are changed often, the skirt would increase the time to change the tire significantly. The gain in speed/mileage with a skirt is less than the loss of time during tire change.
__________________
B W


BeeUU is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-06-2007, 10:47 AM   #38
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 409
Country: United States
Quote:
Originally Posted by MetroMPG View Post
This one throws an interesting twist in the aesthetics vs. style debate:



Nissan R89C with rear wheel skirts

I doubt these are on for styling reasons. That said, if they were useful, why weren't they adopted by every race team? Was the theoretical speed gain offset by the extra time the pit crew needed to remove/reinstall the panel for a wheel change? Brake cooling issues?

Inquiring minds want to know...

I've always had a thing for these vehicles, and therefor have done a little bit of research into them. The rear wheel skirts did increase top speed, but there was not only the problem of having to remove them in the pits, but also the fact the tires would run hotter than if they were exposed, and of course the hot brakes, but I'm sure these had their own cooling ducts. I think one of these cars would make a GREAT FE car if you just remove the massive engine, and the massive cooling ducts. The rear spoiler could go as well, and you'd have a VERY clean car. They share a lot of aerodynamic principles with the insight, radiused front wheel wells, covered rear wheel wells, very little detached flow, No A pillar turbulance. The use of Naca ducts is great too! Super light, carbon fiber bodies, and spaceframe chassis. MMM i bet you could get well over 100 mpg with that setup.

Another strange thing is these cars were basically Unlimited as far as modifications, they were on a fuel ration system. They would generate ridiculous power and top speeds in practice session and qualifying, 1000 hp, +200 mph! So fuel economy was actually important to these racers!

I find that exhaust placement very strange on these cars, I see no benefits to routing it to the side of the cars. My perhaps it's to push the laminar flow away from the turbulant wheels? as it is a feature shared on several other group c cars, skirted, and non.

Wheel skirts are definetly different for every car. Mine are HORRIBLE to begin with. Therefor adding just half wheel skirts in the rear netted me a an avg. of 1-2 mpg better at 60 mph. A whole 10% gain! I think test after test has proven them to be good. I"m a little confused as to this topic?
__________________
red91sit is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-06-2007, 12:13 PM   #39
Registered Member
 
MetroMPG's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 4,223
Country: United States
Cool, info red91. Thanks.

Quote:
Originally Posted by red91sit View Post
I find that exhaust placement very strange on these cars, I see no benefits to routing it to the side of the cars.
Are you sure those are exhaust and not cooling outlets? I've seen a few photos of these cars racing, and if they were exhaust outlets, I would have expected to see some soot/crud on the bodywork aft of them. But they're clean in the pics I've seen.
MetroMPG is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-07-2007, 05:42 PM   #40
Registered Member
 
zpiloto's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 1,225
Country: United States
It's been a cold rain all day today. I noticed looking at the cars as I was driving around that there is significantly more spray from the front then the rear wheels. Which would make me think that some kinda of coverage on the front would decrease drag more than on the aft wheels. Has anyone run across any data that reflects that?
__________________

zpiloto is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
iphone mobile broken RicksCafe Fuelly Web Support and Community News 2 01-22-2012 06:02 AM
AC on and fuel milage tdisr General Fuel Topics 5 05-24-2009 12:25 AM
Higher Speeds MetroMPG Experiments, Modifications and DIY 9 05-25-2006 01:23 PM
where do I buy insulation? Matt Timion General Discussion (Off-Topic) 5 05-24-2006 07:40 PM
Dilemma concerning front sway bar on n600 Matt Timion General Maintenance and Repair 3 05-24-2006 09:37 AM

» Fuelly iOS Apps
Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v3.2.3


All times are GMT -8. The time now is 02:11 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.