What is the frontal area and CD of a Clio 172

[Simon]

Anyone know what the frontal area is in Square feet and the CD for a 172?

 

[m@thew]

CD is 0.36 dont know frontal area

 

[BenR]

fA x Cd x 0.00256 x speed squared/375

 

[Pugboy]

3 badgers and a large fox/small sheep!

 

[Simon]

I know BenR Ive been reading a really good article on this backed up by J.B.Heywood

Rolling resistance power
Air resistance power

This article is backed up with real cars which is good.

Do you reckon the Clio 172 frontal area is around 20 square feet?

 

[BenR]

its all true though.

dunno bout the frontal area.

but 20 sq/ft sound about right...calculation woud turn out better if u used 21! hehe

 

[Simon]

OK,

Have found out a way of calculating the frontal area of any car !!

Park the car against a concrete wall at night and use a spotlight and someone to help trace the outline of the car.

The shadow can then be measured to give the frontal area.

Simple things like removing the wing mirrors reduces the frontal area by 1% which increases the top speed by 1%. Lowering the car by 2 cm reduces the frontal area by 1 % and reduces the drag because the body covers more of the wheels. These two procedures alone add about 3 mp/h to the top speed.

CAN PEEPS PLEASE DO THIS FOR THEIR CARS THEN WE CAN STICK THE RESULTS ON THE CAR SPECS FOR FUTURE REFERENCE !!

Cheers,

Simon

 

[Simon]

Captain, BenR yoy fancy doing the measurements ??

 

[BenR]

haha..NO
you do it you lazy sod

 

[Simon]

Will have to get hold of some Chalk and see what I can do.