Interesting short article on drag and fuel economy

[ktm]

http://www.edmunds.com/advice/fueleconomy/articles/106954/article.html

 

Given the results of the windtunnel analysis and the mule's Cd of 0.47 versus that of the test car with the Bre spook and blocked front air dam of 0.40, I started wondering what were the gains to be had in fuel economy with the reduction in drag.

 

One little heuristic that they quote is that for every 0.01 reduction in Cd, fuel economy increases by approximately 0.2 mpg for cars. While this is just a rule of thumb, it still gives us an idea as to fuel efficiency benefits of reducing drag.

 

Here is a VERY interesting article as well:

 

http://ecomodder.com/blog/2008/03/12/11-on-mods-plus-new-tires-car-and-driver-improves-mpg-by-25/