Rotary Racer Wind Tunnel Testing

This page lists the results of performing wind tunnel tests of 4 quater scale models of different car designs at the UWE wind tunnel on 2006-12-08.

• Car 1: This was the original Rotary Racer car.
• Car 2: A streamlined car
• Car 3: Gareths teardrop like car
• Car 4: A modified version of the original Rotary Racer car with more rounder and tapered front.

Date: 2006-12-08

Ground Plane alone (To be taken way from all other readings)

Car 1: Original body, no canopy, steering king-pins.

Car 1: Original body, no canopy, no steering king-pins.

Car 1: Original body, no canopy, no steering king-pins, wheels spaced out double the distance (8inches).

Car 1: Original body, with canopy, no steering king-pins.

Car 1: Original body, with longer canopy, no steering king-pins.

Car 2: No canopy

Car 3: Gareths car

Car 4: Rounded and tapered front, with canopy

Car 4: Rounded and tapered front, with slotted canopy

Results

Car 4's air drag was: 3.3N. Car 1's air drag was: 4.37N. This is a 32% improvement. The kingpins made about a 15% difference on the old car. Car 4 has a larger gap between the front wheel and body and so the kingpins will probably make less difference on this car, but we can probably improve on the 32% by doing something with the kingpins.

It would have been good to have been able to test the following in the wind tunnel:

• Cars at a 10 degreen angle of incidence tio the wind.
• Cars higher above the ground.
• Cars having a concave rear section.
• Different canopy designs.
• How much difference the external motor made on the original car.