Aerodynamics of a Turd

[rdorman]

Hey DV. Did you look into the aero modifications made to a COBRA called the 'Turd' when designing DVII? The car ran one race, well, part of a race . Nassua speed week I believe in '64. 500 horsepower all aluminum, experimental V8. It was blowing everyones doors off until the engine let go ( I think it was the engine ).

But the interesting part was the way the exhaust from the radiator was set up. The entry to the radiator was sealed (between the 'snout' and the radiator as usual to force all through the radiator, snout was open). Aft of the radiator, ductwork carried all air exhausted from the radiator upward towards the front of the hood lid and exhausted the air back into the air stream through two louvered triangular (sort of) vents. Fresh air for the engine was picked up in front of the hood by lowering the body work in front of the hood to below the level of the hood where it was fed to the engine (bad sentence, I know). About where you have the NACA duct.

Venting the air from the radiator out the hood seems to be a great idea so long as you can accelerate it enough and have enough vent area. I know the outlet needs not be as large as the inlet but I am not sure what sort of inlet/outlet ratio would be appropriate.

I would probably reverse the hood scoop to pick up air from the base of the windshield as you have it reversed. (I know, it doesn't feed your V10 monster from the scoop!)

The Turd never raced again as far as I know. I beleive it was kept as a test car.

Any body ever run a rear lip spoiler with success?

Any body know the basic formula for calculating wing lift? Assuming clean air etc. Seems to me, that at its most simple, it would be a function of the volume of air above and below (different length path) as well as the pressure (weight) of the air. Just a simple wing approximation is all I am looking for.