wilmax17

Does anyone know how much one would be giving up with the top down? I don't necessarily mean 1/4 mile, but just on the street. Basically if some cobalt SS (sorry if I offend any chevy guys, I'm just thinking of a general jackass-thinks-he's-fast car) wanted to fool around, would the disadvantage be horrible with the top down to the point of embarrassment? What about windows down? I understand coupes are known to be quicker, but since I enjoy the nice weather and the top down, I'm wondering how much slower a topless 'vert would be due to drag.

Thanks

Bird1606

The reason the coupes are faster is due to weight. Since the verts don't have the hard roof to add structural rigidity, Ford has to supersize the lower half of the car so that it doesn't implode on itself, and even then there are still rigidity issues (strut tower braces make a world of difference on verts, not so much on coupes, for example). The actual drag penalty suffered from keeping your top down during a drag with another car is negligible I would think. I have a degree in aerospace engineering, and in my 5 classes of aerodynamics, I can tell you that the penalty is there, and it's severe, but it won't really start slowing you down until you start getting into the power. Drag is a function of velocity, and it is a squared term, so for every X you increase your speed, you increase your drag X squared. That being said, our cars are bricks to begin with, so there is already a ton of drag there to overcome, and that's why we have V8's.

If you were racing a GT coupe with the same mods you have from an 80 MPH roll, he'd be faster than you, but more due to him having less inertial weight to get to up to speed and less about drag coefficients. Where you are really going to suffer from having your top down at speed is in the gas guzzling dept. You are going to have to have turn higher RPM's to overcome your higher drag coefficient than a coupe at steady state (say 80 MPH) and that will hurt your MPG.

I tried to dumb that down a little, I could probably be more technical if you wanted, but I think you'll get the point.

Long story short, if you're at a light, some ricer pulls up and you want to destroy him, you can do it just as easily if you are topless.

Trez83

Bird1606 is dead right. The biggest problem with a ragtop is the weight. But, there is a simple way to win against everyone who challenges you at a stoplight, just do what I do. When they rev their engine, just unlatch the roof and put the top back. It doesn't matter how fast, how much NOS, how bright, how many fake scoops or how gigantic their rear wing is - if they can't put their top down - they lose!

Goldenpony

^^^+1 LOL

alkemist

LMAO!!!!