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Unprecedented Aerodynamic Performance

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16:40
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Ford ALMOST Made a "SuperBird" for NASCAR in 1996 With Lincoln Parts..Here's Why It Never Happened

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What happens here

Upon completion of the prototype body, it was taken to a wind tunnel for aerodynamic testing. The results were quite surprising and exceptionally positive. The Lincoln prototype displayed superior downforce and significantly less drag compared to the existing, successful Ford Thunderbird race car. This was considered a remarkable achievement because, typically, improving one of these aerodynamic factors (e.g., downforce) often comes at the expense of the other (e.g., increased drag). Miller specifically points out that the Lincoln's tapered decklid, which sloped downwards, should have reduced rear downforce, yet the overall design managed to defy this expectation.

Goal: Highlight the technical advantages discovered during the prototype's aerodynamic evaluation.

Tools and materials

  • Wind Tunnel — Testing the aerodynamic properties of the prototype

What they say

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the rear fascia off of a lincoln uh talon car as well so and the roof is just an existing thunderbird piece of sheet metal which would we could use that or we could use you know something off a lincoln or something of a for current ford whatever it was real simple so we put all the pieces together tried to stay within the limits of uh of the rulebook as far as heights and widths and everything go because and the end result is the car that you're seeing behind us now when it was all done the people at our shop looked at it it was split about 50 50 as to whether this thing could be a success or not you know because it was actually about four inches longer than the existing t-bird but we could shorten that up a little bit with not much trouble at all so we kind of shortened it up and rubbed down a little bit and then told the ford motor company to take a look at it and they sent their guys out and they looked at it and said no whatever and we took it we took it to the to the wind tunnel and uh and put it in wind tunnel and everyone was shocked because that car as it sits right now was better than any t-bird we had had more downforce and it had less drag which was phenomenal because that just doesn't happen you know usually you have to give up one to get the other you know yeah and a lot of people attributed it to the total length of the car and i mean there was a

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