Automotive Mike
3 HN recommenders · recommended in 3 months, 2022–2023
3:51 · 497K views · Jun 27, 2022
Coverage of the McMurtry Speirling fan car breaking the Goodwood hillclimb record with a 39.08 second run driven by Max Chilton. It beat the Volkswagen ID.R and the 1999 McLaren time.
Shared as a striking example of a fan car using powered ground effect, with an eye-popping launch, in EV and motorsport threads.
3 comments from Hacker News
So, not exactly the ideas you're talking about, but the racing world is increasingly exploring outside of the aero that FIA/F1 et all have allowed. Check out this fancar that set a new course record at Goodwood this year: this video For anyone unfamiliar, a fan car uses motor driven fans to actively create a low pressure zone under the car, while also reducing the low pressure drag bubble behind the car. This particular one is all electric and quite compact. It's very fast, and yes footage of it looks weird, almost artificial, because its sustaining grip through corners that rivals F1 cars, with the torque of electric. Running full tilt the fan system creates about 2000 kg of downforce. But the neat thing is you can flip a switch and then the thing just becomes a Nissan Leaf with a really crazy body kit. So some future "track day" car based on this concept would be surprisingly practical. I think the future of auto racing in a pure electric era is going to be surprisingly bright. Anyhow, not really relevant to talking about making big trucks more efficient, but thought you'd find it interesting.
Yes, this car uses powered ground effects (PGE) to achieve the necessary downforce at low speeds (they mention this in an instagram post) In Formula SAE in the US, PGE systems are not allowed, but in the European equivalent they are. Take a look at the Speirling at Goodwood Festival of Speed for an awfully mean fan car. this video
The McMurtry Goodwood performance is also impressive. Even the straight-line launch is eye-popping: this video It shattered the previous record that had stood for 23 years.