This is a video about the effects of streamlining released by Chevrolet in 1936. It’s a pretty good primer for a study of aerodynamics. There’s even some good shots of turbulence simulated by water and aluminum powder flowing around objects inside a neat little paddle wheel machine. You can see that the most aerodynamic shape is a teardrop. This was figured out early on by observing a water droplet as it fell through the air. It naturally took the shape with the least amount of drag.

Here’s another video to show you how far the science has come since that 1936 video. This is a Bonneville Lakester named “Das Bullet” doing some wind tunnel testing. The top priority for the aerodynamics package of cars like these is to reduce drag. If you can reduce air resistance, you can go faster with the same amount of power. All the shapes of the car are long and drawn out to cause the air flow to stick to the body and follow around it smoothly. Notice how turbulent the smoke gets when they flow it over the non-streamlined wheel.

Now just as an interesting comparison, we’ll go all the way to the opposite end of the spectrum. Here’s a Sprint Car in the same wind tunnel. Where the lakester focused on minimal drag for top speed runs, this Sprint Car’s only focus is downforce. These cars race on loose dirt surfaces which means traction is the limiting factor for them going fast. That’s why they have the massive wings on the nose and roof of the car. Those wing elements are essentially airplane wings mounted upside down on the car to push it into the ground instead of lifting it into the air. This works to provide the car with more traction which allows it to put more of its engine power to the ground, but it also creates a lot more turbulence. The airflow leaving the car is often times in a vortex or directed upwards. It’s a drastic difference when compared to the lakester.

Now to tie it all together, we’ll take a quick look at Formula 1 aerodynamics. These cars have to manage high speed drag as well as downforce. Throw in some massive cooling requirements and the turbulence caused by the open wheels turning at high speed and you have some of the most complicated aerodynamics of anything that is made by man.

Sources: YouTube users CDNJK, A2 Wind Tunnel and kweli25