Where are the cars headed with aerodynamics?

[Tek2747]

On a different thread I started several people pointed out a small spoiler on the front of Davenport's car which got me wondering about what other tricks the car builders are doing to gain an aero advantage. That's when I across this video describing how a driver's helmet disrupts the airflow over the spoiler. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzqkzmVXzg8 So I did some sleuthing to try to see if anyone had come up with any solutions to this problem when I noticed something on Bloomquist's car. This photo shows it best: https://www.google.com/search?q=scot...=1538753454974 He's added a fairing behind his seat much like Porsche and Jaguar started doing on their topless racecars in the 1950's. This is a pretty cool solution and I'm wondering if anyone has seen other teams doing this? It also leaves me wondering where this sport is headed...

[PRCKartRacer9]

He's had that fairing for years. His seat used to be cut off just above the rib supports and his helmet actually rested against the fairing. I believe he used a Sweet Mfg. steering wheel center pad for padding and his head rest was a bar coming down with another steering wheel pad. This was used untill full containment seats were mandated. Way ahead of everyone else in that matter

[MasterSbilt_Racer]

I saw those on some Lazer chassis cars in the 08 to 10 timeframe.

[billetbirdcage]

The canopy behind the drivers head was/is worth roughly 40 pounds of downforce (IIRC) when it was tested years ago, how much on today's bodies I don't know.

The CFD analysis is only as good as the drawing, meaning throw a roof on that inaccurate drawing in the video and you can/will get different results.

[CageFaraday]

He's had that fairing for years. His seat used to be cut off just above the rib supports and his helmet actually rested against the fairing. I believe he used a Sweet Mfg. steering wheel center pad for padding and his head rest was a bar coming down with another steering wheel pad. This was used untill full containment seats were mandated. Way ahead of everyone else in that matter

I think he was inspired thru his dads classic airplanes to make that. Seems like it showed up during his Barry Wright days(93'-97'), but could've been sooner.

[PRCKartRacer9]

Either way he was the first

[Crossbones]

I think he was inspired thru his dads classic airplanes to make that. Seems like it showed up during his Barry Wright days(93'-97'), but could've been sooner.

I remember seeing stuff like in that picture above on Bloomquist's car in the 1990s. Its certainly not a new thing.