skygazer6033
Elio Addict
One of the sore spots of streamlining a vehicle or aircraft is cooling drag. Every IC engine is cooled by the transfer of heat to the ambient air either directly through cooling fins on an aircooled engine or indirectly through liquid coolant to a heat exchanger (radiator). Both cooling fins and radiators job is to increase surface area to radiate heat into the air. Unfortunately more surface area means more drag. Radiators and fins are engineered to provide adequate cooling under all forseeable circumstances therefore they provide far too much cooling and therefore drag under most circumstances. Some cars have shutters in the grill to cut down on cooling drag at cruise speed. Aircooled recip powered airplanes have cowl flaps for the same purpose. The only mention I've read from Elio is they intend to redesign the front because the inlet is too big. Articulated inlet flaps or shutters could be incorporated in the redisign. This could increase aerodynamic efficiency at minimal cost. Thoughts and views on this.