A random thought about the power of air over a car

DanicaFreak

DanicaFreak

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Im sure @aunty dive will like this note.

I was driving my taxi the other day and a customer going to the airport forgot to to close the trunk.
Buddy was in a hurry so he said dont close it, dont stop I need to get to airport fast.

The airport is accessed by a highway that I hit 84mph In the wind, I saw the trunk get compressed down so much that the trunk latched!

This just goes to show you even in a passenger downforce is HUGE.
 
DanicaFreak said:
Im sure @aunty dive will like this note.

I was driving my taxi the other day and a customer going to the airport forgot to to close the trunk.
Buddy was in a hurry so he said dont close it, dont stop I need to get to airport fast.

The airport is accessed by a highway that I hit 84mph In the wind, I saw the trunk get compressed down so much that the trunk latched!

This just goes to show you even in a passenger downforce is HUGE.
Click to expand...

It really is impressive. It’s fun when you can watch different things in our daily commutes and sorta relate it to racing situations.

If anyone ever finds themselves driving a ‘boxy’ large truck on the highway... every time you approach a semi or get approached by one... its very interesting to pay attention to all the things you feel as you pass them or they pass you.

Can’t imagine what race cars would feel like at 196 mph!!!
 
You can feel the air effects on the highway when *behind a semi , and you can feel the air change aka the resistance on you car the closer you get.

*Note, you really should not tailgate a semi on the highway.
 
jws926 said:
You can feel the air effects on the highway when *behind a semi , and you can feel the air change aka the resistance on you car the closer you get.

*Note, you really should not tailgate a semi on the highway.
Click to expand...

theres an urban legend about a 1960s bug being behind a semi and the bug could lift off the gas entirely and be caried along in the semis wake....
 
DanicaFreak said:
theres an urban legend about a 1960s bug being behind a semi and the bug could lift off the gas entirely and be caried along in the semis wake....
Click to expand...

My little Elantra can get towed behind a semi for a solid 3-8 seconds without applying the gas. Crazy how the wind works.
 
attachment.php



Getcha one of these, no worries about air.
 
Correct design of street vehicles includes balanced downforce sufficient to overcome lift and to provide vehicle stability at higher speeds.

Wind tunnel tested before production.
 
Any comment on the suck effect of a large semi and a little be bug?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Speedbowl14 said:
My little Elantra can get towed behind a semi for a solid 3-8 seconds without applying the gas. Crazy how the wind works.
Click to expand...

There is actually a thing called platooning, which several truck manufacturers have tested where several semis would follow each other VERY closely so that the following trucks could get improved fuel economy. It is likely the truck would end up being electronically linked so they don't run over each other. Here's another aero story for you. When I was kid we raised cattle, and one time we took pickup trucks to a friend's farm about 30 miles away and brought home hay. Going down the interste, a semi passed one of the pickups and sucked hay bales out of the MIDDLE of the top layer and sent them tumbling down the highway.
 
Formerjackman said:
There is actually a thing called platooning, which several truck manufacturers have tested where several semis would follow each other VERY closely so that the following trucks could get improved fuel economy. It is likely the truck would end up being electronically linked so they don't run over each other. Here's another aero story for you. When I was kid we raised cattle, and one time we took pickup trucks to a friend's farm about 30 miles away and brought home hay. Going down the interste, a semi passed one of the pickups and sucked hay bales out of the MIDDLE of the top layer and sent them tumbling down the highway.
Click to expand...

Cool story!
 
Driving down the highway at speeds of 55 mph or more, in a convertible with the top down, I used to worry about stuff blowing out - particularly from the back seat. But unless the stuff is really light, it tends to get blown off the rear seat and into the rear seat foot well - the wind swirls around backwards after it comes off the windshield. The newer cars have better aerodynamics and do this better than old cars - older cars tended to buffet everything around in the back seat and more likely expel it out of the car. I even had a big cooler in the back seat that I'd set there with the lid opening toward the back, assuming that the wind coming off the top of the windshield would push it closed that way, only to have the opposite happen - the wind opened the cooler. (due to the swirl). Had to pull off the Interstate and turn the cooler around - then the wind did keep it closed.
 
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