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> > > Everett - It is obvious that the Fastback was marketed as a high > > > performance sports car! The aerodynamic shape makes it much faster > > > that the Square or Notch. Besides, if you squint (and you haven't had > > > your coffee) it looks exactly like a Porsche 911! > > > > Actually, I believe the drag coefficient of the Squareback is lower, > > allowing my '65 to effectively reverse time. > > > obvious followup question, which was "Okay, what is the second best > shape?" After more work it was determined that the second best shape > was just the original cigar shape chopped off square at the desired > length. I just figured the Squareback would have a lower coefficient due to the wagon tail end - it's the same as the people who get better gas mileage with a shell on their pickup trucks than without it. > For what it's worth, I HAVE seen published explainations that the > spoilers on the rear of race cars are there to force a high pressure > region over the tapering rear of the car where, without the spoiler, > a low pressure area would develop and lead to large amounts of vortex > shedding and consequent energy loss (drag.) Hmmm, I thought the spoilers were there to keep the rear end from lifting off the ground, due to the same principles you describe above. > but the only way you could confuse them with sports cars is if > you've never seen a Lotus Super Seven. Never trust any car that was not mass-produced. :-p Bye, Everett and his 1965 1500 S Transporter site: http://ebus.simplenet.com/Volkswagen