Best Lookng Kamm Rear Ends?
Discussion
The Charger is about as ugly as the Alfa Tipo 33 is beautiful!
I think that a line must be drawn between cars that have a definite Kamm tail where the whole car has been designed around airflow from the front to the rear with little compromise (Shelby Daytona) and cars that have been tweaked at the rear end with a mini spoiler just to improve the airflow a bit but not dig into boot space. (Early Aston Virage)
I think that a line must be drawn between cars that have a definite Kamm tail where the whole car has been designed around airflow from the front to the rear with little compromise (Shelby Daytona) and cars that have been tweaked at the rear end with a mini spoiler just to improve the airflow a bit but not dig into boot space. (Early Aston Virage)
Vanin,
As I think an earlier poster said, Prof.Kamm claimed no downforce for his design, but stability and low drag.
The most stable shape, with the lowest drag, is the teardrop, but that demands an excessively long tail. He showed that the cut-off tail generated vortices behind the car that made for a 'virtual' tail and kept the same or near stability, and minimised drag. The latter effect is even useful in the design of bicycle frames!
Other designs generate alternating vortices, that swing the back side to side and dragging turbulence.
Many of the Kammbacks above lack the sharp edge to the cut-off that Kamm insisted on and allows the effect he found.
John
As I think an earlier poster said, Prof.Kamm claimed no downforce for his design, but stability and low drag.
The most stable shape, with the lowest drag, is the teardrop, but that demands an excessively long tail. He showed that the cut-off tail generated vortices behind the car that made for a 'virtual' tail and kept the same or near stability, and minimised drag. The latter effect is even useful in the design of bicycle frames!
Other designs generate alternating vortices, that swing the back side to side and dragging turbulence.
Many of the Kammbacks above lack the sharp edge to the cut-off that Kamm insisted on and allows the effect he found.
John
tapkaJohnD said:
Vanin,
As I think an earlier poster said, Prof.Kamm claimed no downforce for his design, but stability and low drag.
John
I thought that the reason Aston put the Kamm tail on the DB6 was because the DB5 was deemed to be unstable at 120 mph due to lift at the rear. The Kamm put 100 lbs downforce instead of the uplift and therefore gave stability.As I think an earlier poster said, Prof.Kamm claimed no downforce for his design, but stability and low drag.
John
Are you saying that Kamm's designs did not include the flip up tail but just the cut off teardrop?
Vanin said:
I thought that the reason Aston put the Kamm tail on the DB6 was because the DB5 was deemed to be unstable at 120 mph due to lift at the rear. The Kamm put 100 lbs downforce instead of the uplift and therefore gave stability.
Are you saying that Kamm's designs did not include the flip up tail but just the cut off teardrop?
Correct. A car that follows Kamm's research 100% would just cut off with no flip. The Kamm tail is all about managing the flow separation at the rear of the car to minimise drag and Kamm found that while a single, abrupt stop created a turbulent, draggie wake it was a lot less draggie than having multiple stops (top/rear of roof, rear of side glass, rear of boot lid for example).Are you saying that Kamm's designs did not include the flip up tail but just the cut off teardrop?
Of course there's more to designing a car than worrying about the drag coefficient and if while adding a lip spoiler to your Kamm tail will increase it's drag if it keeps the rear wheels on the road it's a compromise worth making.
SpeckledJim said:
//j17 said:
If this was an Italian manufacturer I'm sure it would be 'recognised' as a work of genius. It's just gorgeous.P5BNij said:
Could also pass as one of the prettiest cars ever made or even here: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...Gassing Station | Classic Cars and Yesterday's Heroes | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff