Quote: Chrysler did limited wind tunnel work - mostly with NASCAR teams at Lockheed in GA and you saw how we did the poor man's version with our yarn tufts and documented our tests through photos. We later analyzed the photos and decisions as to the effectiveness of a change would be made.
Interestingly I'd read where a scaled model(s) of either the Daytona or Superbird or maybe both were wind tunnel tested right here in Wichita Kansas at Wichita State University. The wind tunnel here not near the size of Lockheed's, but likely a more feasible start before going full scale. They have a great engineering program mostly directed at aviation.
Bill,
That makes a lot of sense. It is a lot less expensive to do it that way. The next time I run into Larry Rathgeb I will ask him about that. He worked in Chrysler Engineering and worked a lot with Richard Petty on the NASCAR program back then. Chrysler had a couple of VERY good aerodynamists at the time working on that stuff. I thing they were Gary Romberg and Bill LaJoie. I am sure that Gary co-authored a SAE paper back in those days outlining the aerodynamic properties of the Daytona and Superbird based on his wind tunnel work. Rathgeb gave me a copy of it some years ago and it makes for some very interesting reading.
