Bryant Tucker was a regular guy on the HPV racing scene. He sadly died of cancer awhile ago. But he was a big aerodynamics buff. He used to drive racecars (and win), and design them, and enjoyed tinkering with the aerodynamics of cars and bikes for years, getting several patents.
He had a Honda car that he installed several aero mods on which helped him achieve 70mpg. He faired the front end, the wheel wells, added a belly-pan, then faired the rear as well. Apparently Honda was quite interested in his mods.
I recall hearing that the rearview mirrors on cars caused quite a bit of drag. I wonder if it’s illegal to remove them. One could just do headchecks. I also recall hearing that some cars in Japan today use videocams instead of sidemount mirrors.
It would be neat to see what a pro factory could do with aero mods on a car. First, we should remember it only takes, what, 6hp to go 55mph. If we used a modern level of efficiency in a 100hp engine, with a 7sp tranny—with aero mods—man, couldn’t we make quite a thrifty car?
