Fuel consumption

[Kelvin12]

G'Day all,

Only briefly looked at this item but looked interesting. Mainly for the bus people amongst us.

Dirk

http://www.bridgestonetrucktires.com/us ... -speed.asp

[John M]

On that other forum, there was a discussion on this, some time back, and there was a piece written by Collyn on this phenomenon. Most motorhomes, not just the converted buses, have the aerodynamics of a brick, from what I can remember, at 80kph (air speed) the effects of aero dynamics ore negligable, however the drag increases expediently after that ie. the amount of drag doubles with each 8 kpg (or thereabouts). Bear in mind that this is the speed through the air, not road speed, most of us will have noted the differences between a head and tail wind.
This is less apparent in caravans and more streamlined vehicles, just that in these cases, the drag co-efficient is not as high to start with, even though it still doubles at the same speeds.
(I apologise to Collyn Rivers for any plagiarism or misquoting, these are the points as I remember them.)

[Dot]

Which book or site were the ref's taken from do you remember John? just wack some sporty spoilers etc on I thought that was an interesting link Dirk.

[Kelvin12]

The yanks are all over these reversed fish tail looking things that go on both sides of the back edge of the bus, breaks up the drag and a side benefit is its keep the rear end clean and stops the dirt clinging. Simple looking device but damn ugly as the complete back edges needs to be covered top to bottom. I have been thinking of a reversed spoiler on the roof. Saw them on the NASCAR haulers and their motor homes. Good place to stick reversing cameras and strip stop lights.

Dirk

[Busman]

Stop lights up there a bit too high for ADR's aren't they Dirk ?
William

[Kelvin12]

G'Day Bill,

No apparently not. Look at the pantec's and other busses especially the high deckers. They are quite a bit taller than ours.

Dirk