Does anyone else think the Enzo might be underrated in HP ?

For the record, just how much does Cd change between 50 MPH and 200 MPH?

 

Assuming it starts laminar and stays laminar, the skin friction component of Cd would decrease by half.
If it starts turbulent and stays turbulent, the skin friction component of Cd would decrease by about a quarter.
If it starts laminar and ends up turbulent, it changes, but I dont have the time at the moment to calculate what the change would be.

 

I would assume the flow is turbulent throughout this speed range (we are talking about automobiles after all...).

Would you agree that the parasitic drag component would increase in this range?

 

As an aside... are resources available that list the quoted Cd of production cars? I've always wondered what the lowest Cd of a production car is and what that vehicle is. I ask for the quotes, because in considering dream cars... I'd like to have a holistic view of the car's abilities instead of just horsepower/torque to weight ratio and cornering grip etc.

Thanks for any links to informtion for a resource!!

 

In a real flow, its usually laminar for a portion, then turbulent. At the speeds cars are going and with the (paint) finishes they have, I'd guess that the hood is nearly all laminar flow and the rest is turbulent.

Parasitic drag increases as speed increases. But the component of the coefficient of drag from parasitic drag (at least the skin friction part) decreases as speed goes up.

 

Production car? It'd almost certainly be EV-1...can't remember what the value for that is though. For supercars? I really have no idea. The C6 has one of the lowest values I've seen in recent cars with .286...nothing comes to mind which beats that.

 

mmm, beer.