Work is progressing with the hillclimb Locost, and while working on the front I was wondering about aerodynamics/cooling. Has anyone ever cut a large slot in the top of the nosecone and ducted the warm air from the rad out the top? Have seen it done on Darrians and Impreza WRC's but not on 7's. Was just wondering why not, and what you think the pros and cons would be?

Cheers

Nosey

Keep the top smooth and exit the air at the side, through the suspension.

I think Donkervoort do this also I have seen caterhams with big holes in the back of the nose. I think you need to duct the air from behind the rsd to go out through the hole, check my avatar for the Lotus way of doing this, it is a 49B formula 1 i f I rememeber these were designed along with the nose wings in a wind tunnel, the idea was to create low pressure to suck air through the rad. I am not sure that you will achieve enough consistent sped in a hill climb to achieve this effect.

Caber

The V8 Westfield Seight have a duct behind the radiator, moulded into the nose-cone. Might be worth a look at those...

Westfield ditched the ducted nose radiator in favour of a conventional set up. The best place for vents is probably by the footwell.

And new Caterham CSRs,

ATB Dan.

Is this sort of effort worthwhile on a hillclimb car doing typically sub 1 minute runs?? I personally would look to keep the weight to an absolute minimum to improve the power / weight ratio so wouldnt bother with ducting myself.

designed properly no reason why it wouldnt work .

quote:

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Originally posted by Paul TigerB6
Is this sort of effort worthwhile on a hillclimb car doing typically sub 1 minute runs?? I personally would look to keep the weight to an absolute minimum to improve the power / weight ratio so wouldnt bother with ducting myself.

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Checkout how Chris Fiaccione did his side panels - very neat way of achieving plenty of through air - he's chrisf on here & it's on his website somewhere. I think I've seen someone else use the same idea, just a shame I was too early to copy it.......
cheers
Bob

The later polo rads weigh hardly anything and have good surface area and efficient design. I looked at doing this on my Striker but decided to stick with the standard option of large side exit vents towards the back of the engine bay. Makes a very big difference to both the cooling and engine bay temps. I believe there's also aerodynamic benefits to lowering the air pressure trapped in the engine bay as well.

I have just put a vent in the nose cone of my MNR. I haven't ducted it as it was mainly to get the heat out of the engine bay when sitting in traffic however I have noticed that the temperature shown on my gauges is now down about 8degC to around 70degC when i'm blatting it.




[Edited on 3/10/07 by neilj37]

Just look out for stalled air in behind the rad. For example, the cheetah had radiator exhaust out the nose and they had to add a spoiler to keept he air moving.
http://www.bonediggers.com/1-2/cheetah/cheetah.html

I'm surprised Rob Palin hasn't posted - have a search for some of his old posts on the topic.

Cheers Chris. I've been a bit busy recently - my sister emigrated to Australia last Friday. What is it these days with everybody abandoning our fair isle for the land down under? Is it some kind of exchange programme for all the Aussies in London?

I agree about the cooling thing though, there should be something stored away on here somewhere.