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The term drag area derives from aerodynamics, where it is the product of some reference area (such as cross-sectional area, total surface area, or similar) and the drag coefficient. In 2003, Car and Driver magazine adopted this metric as a more intuitive way to compare the aerodynamic efficiency of various automobiles.
Mercedes-Benz reported a drag coefficient of 0.19; [7] for comparison, the production vehicle with the lowest ever C d value was the GM EV1, at 0.195. While the Bionic had a much larger internal volume than the EV1, the Bionic's larger frontal area made the EV1 more aerodynamic overall, as drag is a product of the area and the drag coefficient.
Drag coefficients in fluids with Reynolds number approximately 10 4 [1] [2] Shapes are depicted with the same projected frontal area. In fluid dynamics, the drag coefficient (commonly denoted as: , or ) is a dimensionless quantity that is used to quantify the drag or resistance of an object in a fluid environment, such as air or water.
The lowest of the three cars' drag coefficient was 0.19, [2] an achievement even by today's standards. For each of the cars, Alfa Romeo provided a five-speed gearbox and a powerful four-cylinder engine that produced more than 90 horsepower (67 kW), good enough to propel the car to a top speed of 125 mph (201 km/h).
All of these features combined to provide a low coefficient of drag. The front end of the vehicle featured 10.5-inch (270 mm) power disc brakes and were now standard on all Firebird models. Taking styling cues from the 1981 design, the new car had full width tail lights, complete with a Firebird emblem in the center.
is the drag coefficient – a dimensionless coefficient related to the object's geometry and taking into account both skin friction and form drag. If the fluid is a liquid, c d {\displaystyle c_{\rm {d}}} depends on the Reynolds number ; if the fluid is a gas, c d {\displaystyle c_{\rm {d}}} depends on both the Reynolds number and the Mach number .
This is lower than the Tesla Model S drag coefficient of Cd=0.24, which, in 2014, was the lowest among the production cars of the time. [ 9 ] Within a week of unveiling the Model 3 in 2016, Tesla revealed they had taken 325,000 reservations for the car.
The design paradigm of sloping the tail to reduce drag was carried to an extreme on cars such as the Cunningham C-5R, [14] resulting in an airfoil effect lifting the rear of the car at speed and so running the risk of instability or loss of control. The Kammback decreased the area of the lifting surface while creating a low-pressure zone ...