Corvette Headlight Drag

Reply Subscribe

Thread Tools

Search this Thread

Nov 1, 2014 | 09:38 AM

graysgarage

Thread Starter

7th Gear

Joined: Nov 2014

Posts: 7

Likes: 0

Corvette Headlight Drag

Ever wonder how much drag your pop up headlights on the Corvette create? Find out!

How about the changes in different generations? Find out!

Nov 1, 2014 | 09:46 AM

Easy Mike

Team Owner

Joined: Jun 2000

Posts: 38,923

Likes: 1,481

From: Southbound

Cruise-In II Veteran

Quote:

Originally Posted by graysgarage

...Ever wonder how much drag your pop up headlights on the Corvette create?...

To be honest, no. I never travel at speeds where drag from the lights would be a genuine concern.

Nov 1, 2014 | 10:04 AM

Alan 71

Team Owner

Joined: Sep 2006

Posts: 31,267

Likes: 4,362

From: Westminster Maryland

Hi,
Interesting FIRST post in each of the 6 forums!
Regards,
Alan

Nov 1, 2014 | 12:09 PM

PRNDL

Team Owner

Joined: Jul 1999

Posts: 26,545

Likes: 46

From: Huntersville NC

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alan 71

Hi,
Interesting FIRST post in each of the 6 forums!
Regards,
Alan

Maybe, could get flagged as spam, but check it out first. Very interesting analysis of a topic often discussed. Predictably, the C3 big popup headlights provide the biggest drag. I would also like to know if the added drag is directional, ie does the front end get "lighter" at speed with the headlights up? Or... if I turn on my headlights at 125 mph will my front end "take off" ??

Or will they just help me slow down like an air brake?

Nov 1, 2014 | 01:18 PM

Alan 71

Team Owner

Joined: Sep 2006

Posts: 31,267

Likes: 4,362

From: Westminster Maryland

Hi P,
I guess since I rarely drive at 125 miles per hour at night it's not an issue for me.
If I start to run rum in from the border again I'll check it out.
Regards,
Alan

Nov 1, 2014 | 02:38 PM

gcusmano74

Drifting

Joined: Mar 2011

Posts: 1,886

Likes: 9

And the drag coefficient of the C3 is terrible to begin with. I remember reading somewhere the early cars cd is something like .55, and the 80-82 cars, with their aero mods, only manage to get to .5 or so.

Nov 1, 2014 | 02:52 PM

Haggisbash

Melting Slicks

Joined: Oct 2012

Posts: 2,156

Likes: 273

From: Dunedin NZ.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alan 71

Hi P,
I guess since I rarely drive at 125 miles per hour at night it's not an issue for me.
If I start to run rum in from the border again I'll check it out.
Regards,
Alan

Always thought the drag penalty for a C3 would be big but its even more than I expected.
Advanced driving school here encourages us to use headlights at all times so am fitting daytime lights to my vette.

Nov 1, 2014 | 04:47 PM

Bad Bird

Racer

Joined: May 2011

Posts: 484

Likes: 10

From: Newcastle NSW

Quote:

Originally Posted by gcusmano74

Two points:

1) The drag coefficient of a chrome-bumper C3 is about .45. This seems a big high, but it turns out that the coefficient of drag doesn't mean a whole lot because:

2) Drag coefficient is only half the story. A scale model Corvette and a real Corvette have the same drag coefficient. However, it would take a whole lot less power to go 200 mph with the model, and that has nothing to do with vehicle mass. Frontal area needs to be multiplied with drag coefficient to get "the coefficient of drag area", CdA, which is what you can use to compare different cars.

The CdA of a chrome-bumper C3 is about 8.8. For comparison, a '69 Camaro has a coefficient of drag of around 0.38. Wow! Better than the C3! However, its CdA is about 9.5, so it's actually far less aerodynamic than the C3 and will require a lot more horsepower to run 200 mph than the C3 will.

Fo another comparison, the Bugatti Veyron has a CdA of about 8.2. The C3 isn't amazingly aerodynamic, but it isn't the disaster that people think that it is.