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The term drag area derives from aerodynamics, where it is the product of some reference area (such as cross-sectional area, total surface area, or similar) and the drag coefficient. In 2003, Car and Driver magazine adopted this metric as a more intuitive way to compare the aerodynamic efficiency of various automobiles.
The design paradigm of sloping the tail to reduce drag was carried to an extreme on cars such as the Cunningham C-5R, [14] resulting in an airfoil effect lifting the rear of the car at speed and so running the risk of instability or loss of control. The Kammback decreased the area of the lifting surface while creating a low-pressure zone ...
Automotive aerodynamics is the study of the aerodynamics of road vehicles. Its main goals are reducing drag and wind noise, minimizing noise emission, and preventing undesired lift forces and other causes of aerodynamic instability at high speeds.
Today's hybrids are just now catching up to the best cars from 70-80 years ago in drag coefficient, and cutting aero drag is reponsibile for about 70% of their fuel economy improvement over typical gas cars. Slightly reduced weight and a hybrid powertrain along with use of CVT and smaller engine is the rest. This is embarassing.
This template displays the symbol for coefficient of drag with an optional link to Drag coefficient (link=yes) or Automobile drag coefficient (link=car) and an optional value. If long=yes then the phrase 'drag coefficient of' is added to the front to make it easier to read as part of a full sentence.
A drag count is more user-friendly than the drag coefficient, as the latter is usually much less than 1. A drag count of 200 to 400 is typical for an airplane at cruise. [4] A reduction of one drag count on a subsonic civil transport airplane means about 200 lb (91 kg) more in payload. [5]
The Aptera's body shape is similar to earlier design exercises in efficiency, including the "Fusion" human-powered vehicle produced by the Pegasus Research Company in 1984, [17] and the MIT Aztec Solar Car, which won multiple efficiency awards while racing in the American Tour de Sol in 1993.
This increase can cause the drag coefficient to rise to more than ten times its low-speed value. The value of the drag-divergence Mach number is typically greater than 0.6; therefore it is a transonic effect. The drag-divergence Mach number is usually close to, and always greater than, the critical Mach number.