Aero vs SS hood scoop

 

Not that this is of any value to a drag car, but I remember reading that the ram air hood that was available for the 70 Javelins and on all 70 AMXs robbed the engine of horsepower for Trans Am racing purposes. As mentioned by Dragdak, they determined the scoop being in the boundary layer made the air bypass the inlet. Donohue and Penske determined that an advantage and horsepower gains came from a reverse duct system air cleaner that tapped into the grille like area at the cowl in front of the windshield. The windshield created a high pressure area that the duct tapped into. This high pressure area acted like a power adder for the engine. I always wondered if this would work on a drag car too?

 

At some point in time drag cars did begin to take aerodynamic tips from road racing cars and began to look some what more like their road racing counterparts. That was when the Prostock guys realized that cars low to the ground, and no air going underneath, like road racing cars, where faster and safer (didn't tend to get airborne). Pretty soon many other classes took the que and followed suit.

 

Interestingly, "that little scoop" under the P-51 Mustang that Dragdak talks about developed thrust that enhanced the Mustang's speed. The "scoop" covers the radiator. The speed boost gained for the airplane was analyzed as the expansion of cold air as it became hot while passing through the radiator then out the back of the scoop, almost like thrust from a jet engine.

 

Armand