Drag Coeficients

What are the drag coeficients to a MK IV, MKII, and a MK1? I'm asking, because I recently read an article about 60's aerodynamics and found some impressive numbers (ie Dodge Charger Daytona has a drag coef. of 0.28). I find aerodynamics fascinating :rolleyes: .
 

Chris Duncan

Supporter
Don't know the numbers your looking for but they are out there. Aerodynamics play a very key role in the GT40. It was plauged early on by various problems that were eventually ironed out but it never had much down force.

You can see some of the cars that are raced historically have canards in the front and the new GT has a front splitter and rear diffusers. Mark Le Vea has built a front splitter for some of the replicas, don't know if he's speed tested it yet. Drag isn't so much a problem as lift. Here's some numbers from his site.

The original Ford GT has aerodynamic lift over the front and rear axles. Figures are:

100 lbs. @ 150 mph, with 525 lbs. of drag
144 lbs. @ 180 mph, with 756 lbs. of drag
177 lbs. @ 200 mph, with 933 lbs. of drag

The replicas have some aerodynamic issues as compared to the originals also. The biggest one being the nostril/spare cover. Many of them don't go completely down to the radiator and they don't seal around the radiator. This allows air to come in the front but not all that air to go out the nostrils. This causes the front clip to pressurize and create more drag. In extreme cases spare covers have even blown off.

Rear clip pressurization has also been an issue, here again some replicas don't copy the original and don't seal the induction intake area so that the engine intake ducts then pressurize the complete rear clip area.
 
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