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Re: Coefficient of Drag
In article <1f547$45b3bc56$47c2b532$10307@msgid.meganewsservers.com>
rokigawaATtristarassociatesDOTcom "Ray O" writes:
[color=blue]
> [...] A blunt rear end creates a low pressure area, which sucks
> the car backwards, [...][/color]
OTOH, a while back I posted this [trimmed]...
[color=blue]
> Subject: Re: $30,000 for a PRIUS?
> Message-ID: <1150129866snz@deltrak.demon.co.uk>
> Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2006 16:31:06 GMT
>
> [...]
>
> Second, streamlining. The best shape for a car, I read way back
> (when the idea was considered laughable), was a banana set up as
> an arch running on wheels recessed into its tips. Look around:
> note how cars are now approximating to this. And a chopped-off
> rear is good for streamlining (discovered by accident, according
> to one story, during WW2 when a Royal Navy ship damaged in action
> had her stern patched with a flat plate, to get her home for full
> repairs -- she did markedly better mpg on that journey). These
> give the Prius its overall "arched" ("hunchbacked") form.
>
> [...][/color]
I'd be interested to hear whether the WW2 ship story is true. My
source was an engineering-oriented schoolmaster, in my teens (ie,
early 60s).
--
Andrew Stephenson
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