ar Aerodynamics Basics and How-To Design

Tips
Aerodynamics is the science of how air flows around and inside objects. More generally, it can
be labeled Fluid Dynamics because air is really just a very thin type of fluid. Above slow
speeds, the air flow around and through a vehicle begins to have a more pronounced effect on the
acceleration, top speed, fuel efficiency and handling.
Therefore, to build the best possible car we need to understand and optimize how the air flows
around and through the body, its openings and its aerodynamic devices.

Aerodynamic Principles
Drag
No matter how slowly a car is going, it takes some energy to move the car through the air. This
energy is used to overcome a force called Drag.
Drag, in vehicle aerodynamics, is comprised primarily of three forces:
1. Frontal pressure, or the effect created by a vehicle body pushing air out of the way.
2. Rear vacuum, or the effect created by air not being able to fill the hole left by the vehicle
body.
3. Boundary layer, or the effect of friction created by slow moving air at the surface of the
vehicle body.
Between these three forces, we can describe most of the interactions of the airflow with a vehicle
body.
Frontal Pressure
Frontal pressure is caused by the air attempting to flow around the front of the vehicle as shown
in diagram D1 below.

Diagram D1. Frontal Pressure is a form of drag where the vehicle must push air molecules out of
the way as it travels through the air.
As millions of air molecules approach the front of the car, they begin to compress, and in doing
so raise the air pressure in front of the car. At the same time, the air molecules travelling along
the sides of the car are at atmospheric pressure, a lower pressure compared to the molecules at
the front of the car.
Just like an air tank, if the valve to the lower pressure atmosphere outside the tank is opened, the
air molecules will naturally flow to the lower pressure area, eventually equalizing the pressure
inside and outside the tank. The same rules apply to any vehicle. The compressed molecules of
air naturally seek a way out of the high pressure zone in front of the vehicle, and they find it
around the sides, top and bottom of the vehicle as demonstrated in diagram D1.
Rear Vacuum
Rear vacuum is caused by the hole left in the air as a vehicle passes through it. To visualize
this, lets take a look at our demonstration car in diagram D2 below. As it drives down a road, the
blocky sedan shape of the car creates a hole in the air. The air rushes around the body as
described above.
At speeds above a crawl, the space immediately behind the cars rear window and trunk is
empty or like a vacuum. These empty areas are the result of the air molecules not being able to
fill the hole as quickly as the car can make it. The air molecules attempt to fill in to this area, but
the car is always one step ahead, and as a result, a continuous vacuum sucks in the opposite
direction of the car.

Diagram D2. Rear Vacuum (Also known as flow detachment) is another form of drag where the
air the vehicle is passing through cannot fill the space of the hole left behind by the vehicle,
leading to what amounts to a vacuum.
This inability to fill the hole left by the car is technically called Flow detachment.
Flow detachment applies only to the rear vacuum portion of the drag forces and has a greater
and greater negative effect as vehicle speed increases. In fact, the drag increase with the square
of the vehicle speed, so more and more horsepower is needed to push a vehicle through the air as
its speed rises.
Therefore, when a vehicle reaches high speeds it becomes important to design the car to limit
areas of flow detachment. Ideally, we give the air molecules time to follow the contours of a
cars bodywork, and to fill the hole left by the vehicle, its tires, its suspension and its protrusions
(i.e. mirrors, roll bars).
If you have witnessed the Le Mans race cars, you will have seen how the tails of these cars tend
to extend well back of the rear wheels, and narrow when viewed from the side or top. This extra
bodywork allows the air molecules to converge back into the vacuum smoothly along the body
into the hole left by the cars cockpit, and front area, instead of having to suddenly fill a large
empty space.

The force created by the rear vacuum exceeds that created by frontal pressure, so there is very
good reason to minimize the scale of the vacuum created at the rear of the vehicle.

Diagram D3. Turbulence is created by the detachment of an air flow from the vehicle. The final
unavoidable detachment at the very rear of the vehicle leaves a turbulent wake.
When the flow detaches, the air flow becomes very turbulent and chaotic when compared to the
smooth flow on the front of an object.
If we look at a protrusion from the car such as the mirror in diagram D3 above, we see flow
detachment and turbulence in action. The air flow detaches from the flat side of the mirror, which
of course faces toward the back of the car.
The turbulence created by this detachment can then affect the air flow to parts of the car which
lie behind the mirror. Intake ducts, for instance, function best when the air entering them flows
smoothly. Wings generate far more downforce with smooth flows over them as well. Therefore,
the entire length of the car really needs to be optimized (within reason) to provide the least
amount of turbulence at high speed.

Drag Coefficient
To enable the comparison of the drag produced by one vehicle versus another, a dimensionless
value called the Coefficient of Drag or Cd was created. Every vehicle has a Cd which can be

measured using wind tunnel data. The Cd can be used in drag equations to determine the drag
force at various speeds. In his comprehensive book Race Car Aerodynamics: Designing for
Speed, Joseph Katz provides a table of common vehicles and their Cds and Frontal Areas. Here
is an excerpt from that table:
Car Drag Coefficients (Excerpt from Race Car Aerodynamics by Joseph Katz. Bentley
Publishers)
Vehicle Type

Drag

Frontal area

Coefficient Cq

A[m2]

CDA [m2]

Ford Escort 1.3 GL

0.39-0.41

1.83

0.71-0.75

Nissan Cherry GL

0.39-0.41

1.83

0.71-0.75

Volvo 360 GLT

0.40-0.41

1.95

0.78-0.80

Honda Accord 1.8 EX

0.40-0.42

1.88

0.75-0.79

Nissan Stanza SGL 1.8

0.40-0.42

1.88

0.75-0.79

Mazda 323 1.5

0.41-0.43

1.78

0.73-0.77

Nissan Sunny

0.41-0.43

1.82

0.75-0.78

Talbot Horizon GL

0.41-0.44

1.85

0.76-0.81

Alfa Romeo Giulietta 1.6

0.42-0.44

1.87

0.79-0.82

Toyota Corolla 1300 DX

0.45-0.46

1.76

0.79-0.81

VW Golf Cabrio GL

0.48-0.49

1.86

0.89-0.91

Renault 25 TS

0.30-0.31

2.04

0.61-0.63

Audi 100 1.8

0.30-0.31

2.05

0.62-0.64

Mercedes 190 E (190 D)

0.33-0.35

1.90

0.63-0.67

Mercedes 380 SEC

0.34-0.35

2.10

0.71-0.74

Mercedes 280 SE

0.36-0.37

2.15

0.77-0.80

Mercedes 500 SEL

0.36-0.37

2.16

0.78-0.80

BMW 518i (520i, 525e)

0.36-0.38

2.02

0.73-0.77

Citroen CX 25 Gti

0.36-0.39

1.99

0.72-0.78

BMW 323i

0.38-0.39

1.86

0.71-0.73

Alfa Romeo 90 2.0

0.38-0.40

1.95

0.74-0.78

Mazda 929 2.0 GLX

0.39-0.44

1.93

0.75-0.85

Full-size sedans

Saab 900 Gli

0.40-0.42

1.95

0.78-0.82

Volvo 740 GLE

0.40-0.42

2.16

0.86-0.91

Volvo 760 Turbo w/intercooler

0.40-0.42

2.16

0.86-0.91

Peugeot 505 STI

0.41-0.43

1.97

0.81-0.85

Peugeot 604 STI

0.41-0.43

2.05

0.84-0.88

BMW 728i (732i/735i)

0.42-0.44

2.13

0.89-0.94

BMW 745i

0.43-0.45

2.14

0.92-0.96

Ford Granada 2.3 GL

0.44-0.46

2.13

0.94-0.98

Porsche 924

0.31-0.33

1.80

0.56-0.59

Porsche 944 Turbo

0.33-0.34

1.90

0.63-0.65

Nissan 300 ZX

0.33-0.36

1.82

0.60-0.66

Mazda 626 Coupe

0.34-0.36

1.88

0.64-0.68

Opel Monza GSE

0.35-0.36

1.95

0.68-0.70

Sports cars

Renault Fuego GTX

0.34-0.37

1.82

0.62-0.67

Honda CRX Coupe

0.35-0.37

1.72

0.60-0.64

Audi Coupe GT 5E

0.36-0.37

1.83

0.66-0.68

Chevrolet Corvette

0.36-0.38

1.80

0.65-0.68

Chevrolet Camaro Z 28 E

0.37-0.38

1.94

0.72-0.74

Mazda RX-7

0.36-0.39

1.69

0.61-0.66

Toyota Celica Supra 2.8i

0.37-0.39

1.83

0.68-0.71

VW Scirocco GTX

0.38-0.39

1.74

0.66-0.68

Porsche 911 Carrera

0.38-0.39

1.78

0.68-0.69

Honda Prelude

0.38-0.40

1.84

0.70-0.74

Mitsubishi Starion Turbo

0.38-0.40

1.84

0.70-0.74

Porsche 928 S

0.38-0.40

1.96

0.74-0.78

Porsche 911 Carrera Cabrio

0.40-0.41

1.77

0.71-0.73

Jaguar XJ-S

0.40-0.41

1.92

0.77-0.79

From this table and our knowledge of the body shape of some of these vehicles, we can conclude
that the best Cd is achieved when a vehicle has these attributes:

Has a small nose/grill, to minimize frontal pressure.

Has minimal ground clearance below the grill, to minimize air flow under the car.

Has a steeply raked windshield (if any) to avoid pressure build up in front.

Has a Fastback style rear window/deck or sloped bodywork, to permit the air flow to
stay attached.

Has a converging Tail to keep the air flow attached, and to minimize the area against
which flow detachment eventually occurs

If it sounds like weve just described a sports car, youre right. In truth though, to be ideal, a car
body would be shaped like a tear drop, as even the best sports cars experience flow detachment.
However, tear drop shapes are not conducive to the area where a car operates, and that is close to
the ground. Airplanes dont have this limitation, and therefore teardrop shapes work.
The best road cars today manage a Cd of about 0.28. Formula 1 cars, with their wings and open
wheels (a massive drag component) manage a minimum of about 0.75.
If we consider that a flat plate has a Cd of about 1.0, an F1 car really seems inefficient, but what
an F1 car lacks in aerodynamic drag efficiency, it makes up for in downforce and horsepower.

Aerodynamics How-To Tips (1/4)

Cover Open wheels
Open wheels create a great deal of drag and air flow turbulence, similar to the diagram of the
mirror in the Turbulence section above. Full covering bodywork is probably the best solution,
if legal by regulations, but if partial bodywork is permitted, placing a converging fairing behind
the wheel provides maximum benefit.

Minimize Frontal Area

The smaller the hole your car punches through the air, the better it will accelerate, the higher the
top speed, and the lower the fuel consumption it will have. It is usually much easier to reduce FA
(frontal area) than the Cd (Drag coefficient).

Converge Bodywork Slowly

Bodywork which quickly converges or is simply truncated, forces the air flow into turbulence,
and generates a great deal of drag. As mentioned above, it also can affect aerodynamic devices
and bodywork further behind on the vehicle body.

Frontal Area
Drag coefficient, by itself is only useful in determining how Slippery a vehicle is. To
understand the full aerodynamic effect of a vehicles body shape, we need to take into account
the frontal area of the vehicle. The frontal area defines the size of the hole the vehicle makes in
the air as it drives through it.
In diagram FA1 below, the sedan car makes a far smaller hole in the air than the semi-trailer
tractor.

Diagram FA1. Frontal areas of a car and large truck. Minimizing frontal area in car design is
important and easier than reducing the Cd which is almost always more difficult.
So then it is by combining the Cd with the Frontal area that we arrive at the actual amount of
drag created by a vehicle.

Lift/Downforce
Downforce is the same force as the lift experienced by airplane wings, only it acts to press down
instead of lifting up. Every object travelling through air creates either a lifting or downforce
situation. Most race cars and some road cars use aerodynamic devices such as inverted wings to
force the car down onto the road, increasing traction. The average street car however tends to
create lift. This is because the car body shape generates a low pressure area above itself.
According to Bernoullis principle, for a given volume of air, the higher the velocity the air
molecules are travelling, the lower the pressure becomes. Likewise, for a given volume of air, the
lower the velocity of the air molecules, the higher the pressure becomes. This applies to air in
motion across a still body, or to a vehicle in motion, moving through relatively still air.

In the Frontal Pressure section above, we said that the air pressure was high as the air rammed
into the front grill of the car. What is happening is that the air slows down as it approaches the
front of the car, and as a result more molecules are packed into a smaller space. Once the air
stagnates at the point in front of the car, it seeks a lower pressure area, such as the sides, top and
bottom of the car.
Diagram LD1 below demonstrates this effect using arrows to indicate the air velocity and
density.

Diagram LD1. Drag, lift and downforce from over body flow. The body shape creates lift and
downforce from the air flow. Drag is cumulative as the air flows from the front to the rear of the
vehicle.
As the air flows over the hood of the car, its loses pressure, but when it reaches the windscreen,
it again comes up against a barrier, and briefly reaches a higher pressure. The lower pressure area
above the hood of the car creates a small lifting force that acts upon the area of the hood (Sort of
like trying to suck the hood off the car). The higher pressure area in front of the windscreen
creates downforce. This is akin to pressing down on the windshield.
Where most road cars get into trouble is the fact that there is a large surface area on top of the
cars roof. As the higher pressure air in front of the wind screen travels over the windscreen, it
accelerates, causing the pressure to drop. This lower pressure literally lifts on the cars roof as
the air passes over it.

Worse still, once the air makes its way to the rear window, the notch created by the window
dropping down to the trunk creates a vacuum (or low pressure space) that the air is not able to fill
properly. The flow is said to detach and the resulting lower pressure creates lift that then acts
upon the surface area of the trunk. Prior to the use of aerodynamic devices to reduce these
effects, race car drivers would feel the car becoming light in the rear when travelling at high
speeds.
Not to be forgotten, the underside of the car is also responsible for creating lift or downforce. If a
cars front end is lower than the rear end, then the front end restricts the air flow under the car
and the widening gap between the underside and the road creates a low pressure area. If there is
neutral or higher air pressure above the car, then we get downforce due to the difference in the
pressure above and below the car. See the diagram LD2 below:

Diagram LD2. Downforce from raked underbody. The widening gap between the underside of
the car and the road lowers the air pressure underneath.
So, as you can see, the airflow over a car is filled with high and low pressure areas, the sum of
which indicate that the car body either naturally creates lift or downforce.

Aerodynamics How-To Tips (2/4)

Use Spoilers
Spoilers are widely used on sedan type cars such as NASCAR stock cars. These aerodynamic
aids produce downforce by creating a dam at the rear lip of the trunk, raising the air pressure
over the trunk. Where a notch left by the rear window exists a spoiler can help restore pressure to
the void behind the window.

Use Wings
Wings are the inverted version of what you find on aircraft. They work very efficiently, and in
less aggressive forms generate more downforce than drag, so they are loved in many racing
circles and by high performance road car builders. Wings are best placed in areas that have clear
airflow to them. Placing a wing behind an obstruction reduces the downforce the wing can
produce.

Use Front Air Dams

Air dams at the front of the car restrict the flow of air reaching the underside of the car. This
creates a lower pressure area under the car, effectively providing downforce. In many cases, the
air dam also reduces the Cd of the vehicle.

Aerodynamic Devices
Aerodynamic devices provided a means of taking advantage airflow around a vehicle. Some
devices increase the effectiveness of airflows within the body of the vehicle, such as those
feeding a radiator or engine. Other devices create downforce to increase traction.

Scoops/Positive pressure intakes

Scoops, or positive pressure intakes, are useful in providing a mild Ram Air or
Supercharging effect to a combustion engine. They work on the principle that the air flow
compresses inside an air box when subjected to a constant and oncoming flow of air. The air
box has an opening that permits an adequate volume of air to enter, and the expanding air box
itself slows the air flow to increase the pressure inside the box. The faster the vehicle travels, the
greater the pressure increase and air volume through the air box. Diagram AD1 below shows a
scoop and air box:

Diagram AD1. Scoops or intakes direct the flow of cool air into an expanding airbox which
allows the air pressure to increase, creating more horsepower.

NACA Ducts
NACA ducts are useful when air needs to be drawn into an area which isnt exposed to the direct
oncoming air flow the scoop has access to. Quite often NACA ducts will be used along the sides
of a vehicle. The NACA duct takes advantage of the Boundary layer, a layer of slow moving air
that clings to the bodywork of the car, especially where the bodywork flattens, or does not
accelerate or decelerate the air flow. Areas like the roof and side body panels are good examples.
The longer the roof or body panels, the thicker the layer becomes (a source of drag that grows as
the layer thickens as well).

Diagram AD2. The NACA duct (named after the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics)
is a specially shaped duct that pulls air from the boundary layer inside the vehicle.
The NACA duct scavenges this slower moving area by means of a specially shaped intake. The
intake shape, shown below in diagram AD2, drops in toward the inside of the bodywork, and this
draws the slow moving air into the opening at the end of the NACA duct. Vortices are also
generated by the walls of the duct shape, aiding in the scavenging. The shape and depth change
of the duct are critical for proper operation.
Typical uses for NACA ducts include engine air intakes and cooling.

Spoilers
Spoilers are used primarily on sedan-type race cars and road cars to provide downforce, but also
to counteract the natural tendency of these cars to become light in the rear due to lift generated
by the rear body shape.
Spoilers act like barriers to air flow, in order to build up higher air pressure in front of the spoiler.
This higher pressure acts upon the area of the trunk/deck to provide downforce. Diagram AD3
below shows how the flow is manipulated to increase pressure.

Diagram AD3. The spoiler creates a barrier that increases air pressure and flow attachment ahead
of it.

Front Air Dam

A Front air dam is used to prevent air from flowing underneath a vehicle. It does this by creating
a dam or wall across the front of the vehicle that extends close down to the road and usually
along the sides to some extent. This creates an area of vacuum or low pressure underneath the car
as shown in diagram AD4 below. This low pressure area, in combination with the higher
pressures above the front and top of the vehicle, generates downforce at the front of the vehicle.

Diagram AD4. The front air dam blocks air from going under the vehicle. This creates a low
pressure area immediately behind the air dam. Which provides downforce. However, without
side skirts, air soon enters from the sides to equalize the pressure underneath the car which
diminishes downforce further back.
If we extend the air dam along the sides of the vehicle to become skirts, we can extend the
vacuum or low pressure area generated under the vehicle by the air dam as well.

Aerodynamics How-To Tips (3/4)

Use Aerodynamics to Assist Vehicle Operation
Using vehicle bodywork to direct airflow into openings, for instance, permits more efficient,
smaller openings that reduce drag penalties. Quite often, with some forethought, you can gain an
advantage over a competitor by these small dual purpose techniques.
Another useful technique is to use the natural high and low pressure areas created by the
bodywork to perform functions. For instance, Mercedes, back in the 1950s placed radiator outlets
in the low pressure zone behind the driver. The air inlet pressure which fed the radiator became
less critical, as the low pressure outlet area literally sucked air through the radiator.
A useful high pressure area is in front of the car, and to make full use of this area, the nose of the
car is often slanted downward. This allows the higher air pressure to push down on the nose of
the car, increasing grip. It also has the advantage of permitting greater driver visibility.

Keep Protrusions Away From The Bodywork

The smooth airflow achieved by proper bodywork design can be destroyed quite easily if a
protrusion such as a mirror is too close to it. While it is important to design an aerodynamic
mount for a mirror, the mirror itself needs to be placed far enough away from the bodywork to
avoid adverse affects.

Wings
Probably the most popular form of aerodynamic device is the wing. Wings can perform very
efficiently by generating a lot of downforce for a small penalty in drag. Spoilers are not nearly as
efficient, but because of their practicality they are used a lot on sedans where wings are less
efficient.

Diagram AD5. Wings generate downforce by a pressure difference between the top and bottom
surfaces.
The wing, as shown in diagram AD5 above, generates downforce by using the difference in air
pressure between the top and bottom surfaces. This air pressure difference results from the way
the air flows around the wing shape.

According to Bernoullis principle, the higher the speed of a given volume of air, the lower the
pressure that air will have. Therefore to create lower air pressure, we need to speed up the air
flow.
A wing does this by making the air molecules travel different distances from the leading edge to
the trailing edge. The longer underside of the wing requires the air flowing on that side to move
at a higher speed (lower pressure) to meet up with the air flowing at a lower speed (higher
pressure) over the top side of the wing.
The lower pressure area under the wing allows the higher pressure area above the wing to push
down on the wing, and hence the vehicle its mounted to. The angle of attack or wing angle can
be increased to enable even larger pressure differences, but eventually the wing will stall and
lose downforce. Drag also increases with higher angles of attack.
Downforce can be increased even more without stalling the wing by using multi-element wings
that position one or more small wings behind a larger wing. In his book Race Car
Aerodynamics: Designing for Speed, Joseph Katz provides a Coefficient of pressure plot with
an overlaid multi-element wing profile, shown in diagram AD6, below. The positioning of the
elements is critical, with gaps between the wing elements feeding the low pressure side of the
smaller wings.
NOTE: The wing in the diagram is shown upside down compared to how it would be mounted
on a race car. The diagram is meant to plot negative pressure coefficients from the front to the
rear (the Chord) of the wing (x/c)

Diagram AD6. Pressure coefficients (Cp) of a multi-element wing. Diagram from Joseph Katzs
book Race Car Aerodynamics: Designing for Speed. Each successive element is positioned
with precision to complement and harness the flow from the previous element. Bentley
Publishers
Wings can be coupled with endplates to prevent high pressure air spilling over the ends to the
low pressure underside. Diagram AD7 below shows a wing with endplates:

Diagram AD7. Wing endplates prevent high pressure air (on top) from migrating over the ends of
the wing to the low pressure side (on bottom)

Venturi Tunnels
Venturi tunnels, much the like a venturi tube observed in a laboratory, use the constriction of a
flow to generate high speed, low air pressure areas under the race car. In diagram AD8 below, we
show a car with a venturi tunnel, and below that a similar venturi tube you might see in a lab.

Diagram AD8. The Venturi tunnel shape increases the velocity of the mass of air flowing through
it, lowering the pressure and generating downforce.
On race vehicles, the venturi is usually formed by making the undertray of the vehicle shaped
like an inverted wing. The distance between the undertray and the road forms a constriction and
then expands to enable the low pressure created by the constriction to act along the middle and
rear and of the vehicle. Venturis are very efficient devices but are susceptible to changes in
vehicle ride height.

Diffusers
A diffuser, shown in diagram AD9 below, is used to generate downforce at the rear of a vehicle.
Similar to a venturi tunnel, it forms a curvature similar to the underside of a wing immediately
before the low pressure area behind the vehicle. By doing so, the air flowing under the vehicle
increases in speed and drops in pressure, creating downforce. Diffusers and venturi tunnels
leverage the low pressure area behind the vehicle, and can sometimes leverage high speed
exhaust gases ejected into the diffuser to create even lower pressure.

Diagram AD9. The diffuser uses the underside of the car body to mimic the underside of a wing.
The diffusers expanding opening creates a low pressure area under the rear of the car that
generates downforce.

Aerodynamics How-To Tips (4/4)

Rake the chassis
The chassis, as mentioned in the aerodynamics theory section above, is capable of being slightly
lower to the ground in the front than in the rear. The lower Nose of the car reduces the volume
of air able to pass under the car, and the higher Tail of the car creates an expanding space
where a vacuum effect can form. This lowers the air pressure beneath the car, creating
downforce.

Cover or streamline Exposed Wishbones

Exposed wishbones (on open wheel cars) are often made from circular steel tube to save cost.
However, these circular tubes generate turbulence. It may be worth considering the use of oval
tubing, or a tube fairing that creates an oval shape over top of the round tubing. See diagram AT1
below:

Diagram AT1. Streamlined wishbone tubing improves the smoothness of the air flow to parts of
the car behind and reduces drag,