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Dimples on Surface of Car

Started by NinjaMouse , Jul 23 2008 12:11

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6 replies to this topic

#1 NinjaMouse

Member

235 posts
Joined: June 08

Posted 23 July 2008 - 12:11

Hi All

Please be easy on me, I know nothing about the eningeering of F1 cars......I can carve up metal on mills and lathes, and amke pretty pictures on computers, but thats about it.....

But every now and then, I have "an idea" that I think would be good for a car........and since running into this forum a while back, it has become apparant that there are some people on here who really know what they are talking about.....

So....

Why don't they put dimples on F1 car bodywork, like they do on Golf Balls? As I understand it, putting dimples on a golf ball reduces drag???

or does dimples like that only work on a sphere?.....

Cheers.

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#2 OfficeLinebacker

Member

14,088 posts
Joined: December 07

Posted 23 July 2008 - 17:08

The dimples work on a golf ball because the ball is spinning. The dimples serve to build up a cushion of turbulent air.

Cars don't spin (on purpose, anyway!) so no dimples.

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#3 NinjaMouse

Member

235 posts
Joined: June 08

Posted 23 July 2008 - 18:35

Cheers

I knew this place would be the right place to ask....... Back to the drawing board........

I was thinking about Flexi wings a decade or so ago too, as the one thing I do remember from engineering is plastic and elastic limits of materials, so it seemed possible...was happy when I seen it done for real......I geuss since then, I think my other ideas have merit also.....not in this case though, thanks for clarryfying....

One other stupid idea I've had (feel free to laugh).......but could you use something like a torque wrench type set up on driven wheel, once a certain level of torque has been applied, it "slips back" a notch..........?? But as TC is banned, I geuss this is a no-no....was just thinking of ways to do it mechanicly as opposed to with electronics?.....