TCR2B@aol.com wrote:
>Gordon,
>
>You are a font of information, as always. Since the commodore is no longer
>with us, I guess it's OK to fuss. I didn't know that the car was like that
>from the factory. Yes, Dr. Kamm came up with some interesting aerodynamic
>theories (that are still being used today). It may have been much "cleaner"
>aerodynamically, but it wasn't near as pretty as the other ones (like the SWB
>GTO).
>
>Mike in VA
>'66 1600
>
>
>
And to bring the Datsun connection into this discussion, I present the
following regarding Pete Brock's Cobra Daytona Coupe he designed in 1963.
While working as a young designer for GM back in the mid 60s, Brock
came across some aerodynamic research which had been done by another
young designer, Reinhard Koenig-Fachsenfeld, some three decades earlier.
Koenig-Fachsenfeld, then studying under the tutelage of famed German
engineer Wunibald Kamm, created some ground breaking designs called the
K1 and K2 prototypes; part of a total of 5 similar cars on different
chassis, built and tested as part of their aerodynamic research. His
style of a smooth roofline with a suddenly chopped tail proved very
effective, as the cars managed to keep the air flow from becoming
turbulent along the roofline. This was a great aerodynamic breakthrough
because, as Brock said, if you can trick the air into sticking to the
roofline all the way to the back of the car, and then just chop it off,
you only have turbulence just as the air leaves the back of the car, and
youll have removed all the drag from the roofline. Less drag means
less resistance to forward motion, and thus higher efficiency and an
increased maximum velocity.
--
Dennis Currington
San Diego
1967.5 2000
1971 240Z
http://www.datsuns.net
http://www.racerguy.com
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