Quote Originally Posted by Matra et Alpine
In open wheelers I was always taught it is in the top /rear of the tyre because the tyre is rotating and that part of the surface is moving in opposite direction to the airflow thus preventing laminar flow and causing massive turbulence as two airflows of near equal speed encounter each other head to head.
from what i know, there is a large pressure drop behind the wheel. this cause boundy layer seperation and alot of turbulence. this is gonna cause alot of drag since youre trying to overcome the pressure differential front to rear. putting a fairing in front will help but the real problem is behind the wheel. this illustrates the difference infront of and behind thw wheels:

yeah, the top is a problem but friction with the air is gonna cause far less drag then trying to over come the above effect (this an is educated guess, but i thnk it's valid).
Quote Originally Posted by Matra et Alpine
They are clearly using the front bodywork and wings for aerodynamic benefit.
thats my point , because of this they could have supported it with the upright or top A-arm and had the load go directly into the wheel. but it would have probably required quite a bit more work. The fatigue on the carbon would be quite bad.
Quote Originally Posted by Matra et Alpine
?heh? ONLY if the air flow is turbulent enough off their rear edge to draw dirty water in far enough to meet the mirror surface. There will be a very clean laminar flow along those surfaces and I think it will exit the edge with little turbulence. Can't see from any of the pics how far set in teh mirrors are either
well, any time you have a vertical surface in a flow its going to have turbulence behind it which tends to deposit dirt on the surface. not a major design point of the car , just thought it was interesting packaging.
Quote Originally Posted by Matra et Alpine
They're not competing with the Atom and an Atom is beyond the limit of safe/comfortable driving already. Visible engineering has a limited life IMHO as it presents major issues ( like aero ) that fundamentally limit top speed and safety.
good points. i guess this was just more my personal tase. I like the atom because i like to see the technical parts of a car and id rather have a car with incredible acceleration and cornering (and those looks) than one with better top speed potential.

off topic but i hope to have time soon to go down to Brammo motorsports. theyre the US makers of the Atom and relativley close to me. theyre also an impressive engineering and composite shop:
http://www.brammo.com/

I should have known you wouldnt let me get away with those comments .