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You might think that sports cars would have the lowest drag coefficient of all cars. And yes, they do tend to be more slippery than, say, SUVs or convertibles, but the sleekest vehicles on the road tend to be EVs, hybrids and luxury sedans. Sports cars, on the other hand, have aerodynamically detrimental needs for downforce and additional engine cooling. Still, the
Porsche 911
is better than most, and has only gotten more so over the years. Its relatively narrow track and compact form mean it has a smaller frontal area than some other sports cars, and the gradual sweeping back of its headlights and windshield have only augmented its capacity for cheating the wind.
This 911 prototype, however, is even more aerodynamic than most. It's based on a "G model" 911 from 1984, but employed such features as covered wheels, a new rear spoiler and a reprofiled front end to drop its drag coefficient from 0.40 to 0.27, making it as slippery as a modern sedan and better at cheating the wind than just about anything built up to that point, save for maybe the
Tatra 77
,
Citroën SM
or
Tucker Torpedo
.
Elements of this prototype ended up gradually making it into production
Porsches
for years to come, and you can clearly see early influences on the second-generation 964 and even on the
959
. It's featured here as the latest installment in a video series on rare historic Porsches unearthed from the company archives, following previous clips that featured a
rare V8-powered 911
and a
mid-engined 911 prototype
. Scope out the latest episode in the
video below
.
Continue reading
Porsche 911 Aerodynamic prototype cheated the wind ahead of its time
Porsche 911 Aerodynamic prototype cheated the wind ahead of its time
originally appeared on
Autoblog
on Wed, 04 Jun 2014 14:58:00 EST. Please see our
terms for use of feeds
.
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