Aero drag on supersonic rocket cars

[Ratliff]

Aero drag on the Budweiser car using the published dimensions and The Blue Flame drag coefficients.

[Ratliff]

Aero drag using the same fuselage dimensions as the Budweiser car but with a much narrower rear track and smaller diameter wheels.

Result is about a 2,000 to 3,000 pound reduction in drag at Mach 1.

[interested bystander]

Thank You. Been waiting for this data for years, Bill "VON" Fredrick was in- deed a genius and Budweiser is my personal favorite beverage.

But I've got to ask again. . .WHAT'S YOUR POINT?

[Stainless1]

IB, it is obvious based on the calculations that if the Bud rocket had been narrower in track it still would not make us drink more Bud than we would with the wider track, of course you must use the Drag coefficients of the Blue Flame to draw that conclusion.  If you use the Drag coefficients of the Thrust SSC, you will find yourself drinking slightly more Newcastle than expected...   
Cheers 

[interested bystander]

Great explanation! I owe you one of your choice for clearing this up- even a Watney's were they not like Fosters and Sapporo now brewed in Canada.

[Ratliff]

Thank You. Been waiting for this data for years, Bill "VON" Fredrick was in- deed a genius and Budweiser is my personal favorite beverage.

But I've got to ask again. . .WHAT'S YOUR POINT?

Attached are the specs and artist rendering for a rocket land speed car Dick Keller designed in 1974 for Tony Fox. It had a 240 inch wheelbase, 4 foot 3 inch rear track, an empty weight of 1,800 lbs, and was designed to set a legitimate land speed record with a smaller fuel tank than the Budweiser car. JUST THE ENGINE in the Breedlove/Fossett car weighs about 3,500 lbs.

Even with a bigger fuel tank than the Keller design (138 gallons as opposed to 104 gallons), the Budweiser car had too much weight and frontal area for its fuel capacity to legitimately break The Blue Flame record or go supersonic.