The Forward Look- more than just fins/Exner SAE Paper

[John M Brauninger <flightsweep@xxxxxxxx>]

I believe Virgil Exner presented a paper at an SAE (Society of Automotive
Engineers) conference in the late 50s that outlined the aerodynamic
principles and benefits (e.g., stability in crosswinds) of  Mopar
tailfins. This topic has been discussed before but the site search engine
appears to be down so I can't provide any links for those interested in
more details.

John B.

On Sat, 21 Dec 2002 11:07:08 -0600 (CST) dardal@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
> Quoting kenyon wills <imperialist60@xxxxxxxxx>:
> 
> 
> > wind was blowing really hard.  Of course the weight of the car, 
> and the
> > relative lack of hurricane force cross winds might probably also
> > contribute to the fins not really making a difference.  Maybe at 
> 100
> > mph
> > they make the car track straighter, but the gyroscopic forces of 
> the
> > wheels would tend to help any car on that point.
> 
> Actually, as the speed increases, I have noticed that the effects of 
> the cross 
> winds generally diminish.  The reason is most likely that the fast 
> forward 
> speed reduces the angle at which the wind "hits" the car.  
> D^2
> 
>