Systems always seek a state of lowest potential; falling drops of water are round in front and taper back because they can conform to a state of lowest potential as the move through the air.
This doesn't make it a practical shape necessarily, but it is an ideal worth considering. I have been involved in streamlining human powered vehicles and from a practical stand point, tapering the back is an easier way to reduce drag than rounding the front. FWIW. Start in the back and do right by the front as best you can. On Mon, Apr 6, 2015 at 11:48 PM, Lee Hart via EV <[email protected]> wrote: > Robert Bruninga via EV wrote: > >> The one sentence that caught my eye: >> >>> Automakers may be big, lumbering, and risk-averse, but they are not >>> >> stupid. >> >> Well they sure stand-in-line to copy each other's race to the ugliest >> GRILLS every seen since the Edsal. Is it just me or is the trend now in >> gas cars to see who can make the biggest and ugliest grill possible? >> >> Since EV's hardly need them at all, I wonder what the ideal front end of >> an EV will look like when we grow out of Grill Chrome as a decoration? >> > > Cars have always been more about style than aerodynamics. Aerovironment's > Paul MacReady, who designed GM's EV1 electric car said he fought constantly > with the GM stylists for function over style. He also said most cars are > more streamlined in reverse than going forward. > > An optimized car design would be shaped more like a bird or airplane, with > *no* grille in front -- just a smooth rounded nose, with aerodynamically > designed air intakes where needed for engine cooling. > > -- > When I am working on a problem, I never think about beauty. But when > I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong. > -- Buckminster Fuller > -- > Lee Hart, 814 8th Ave N, Sartell MN 56377, www.sunrise-ev.com > _______________________________________________ > UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub > http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org > For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/ > group/NEDRA) > > -- To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk. Thomas A. Edison <http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/t/thomasaed125362.html> A public-opinion poll is no substitute for thought. *Warren Buffet* Michael E. Ross (919) 585-6737 Land (919) 576-0824 <https://www.google.com/voice/b/0?pli=1#phones> Google Phone (919) 631-1451 Cell [email protected] <[email protected]> -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://lists.evdl.org/private.cgi/ev-evdl.org/attachments/20150407/a4bf6086/attachment.htm> _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
