When automakers began to understand the fact that airflow through and around a vehicle could make a difference in the performance and the ability to drive fast, aerodynamics became one of the most important aspects of creating the vehicles we see on the tracks and roads today. While adding more power to the engine certainly can offer faster speeds, unless you have proper airflow, an engine can overheat and the rear of a car can lift off the ground, which causes you to lose control. This makes aerodynamics even more important than the sheer raw power you can find in any vehicle.
The Acura NSX
As one of the most impressive and admired supercars of the modern era, the Acura NSX is a car that isn’t powered by a large and heavy engine, instead, it’s a car that has taken engineering to new heights. Not only is this a hybrid supercar that uses a V6 motor that is aided by electric motors, it’s also an aerodynamically designed car that allows air to flow in and around it to help allow the car to reach a top speed of 190 mph and be the car you might want for the drive.
Using smoke and paint lines, the team of Engineering Explained took to the track with an Acura NSX to show us the aerodynamics of this car in the video below. You can notice right away with the smoke that the car can use and reuse the air as it flows in through the front, out the hood vents and then back into the engine in the rear. The air is directed and redirected around the car in a way that makes it easy to see how the car stays cool, is pushed harder on the track with extreme downforce and is aerodynamically sound.
Three Categories of Airflow
The Acura NSX uses airflow in three different ways, which is what we see today with many supercars on the market. The first category is cooling, which makes use of the ten heat exchangers on the car, the second is downforce which is used with the rear wing and the smooth underbody that flows air to the rear diffuser, and drag which is reduced by manipulating the airflow around the vehicle to allow it to cut through the air and allow for a faster performance at the track.
When the team at Acura built the NSX with its engine in the rear, they did so with the airflow creating 75 percent of the downforce in the back and only 25 percent up front. Take a look at the video below and see how this makes perfect sense. You’ll be able to understand more fully why airflow is as important as it is in racing and the development of supercars that we love to admire on the track and on the roads. The way this is explained certainly makes you think about more than just how to cut through the wind.
