Hi Mike. The weather fiasco was not anticipated when I left Bonneville to go back east. It is quite an adventure.
Actually Stan, I was sucked.
The tunnel was operated by Geoff Eaker, the son of the firm's founder, Gary Eaker. The streamlining has as close to a NACA shape as I could get and it provides plenty of clearance around the sides of the engine for future turbos, intercoolers, supercharger, etc, I explained to Geoff.
The first trial established a baseline to compare against during the future tests. The tufts were analyzed along with a smoke test. I looked through the center of the windshield like I do at Bonneville, with some clearance between my chest and the top of the tank. About half to 3/4 of my helmet sticks out above the windshield. Aero drag coefficient was 0.494.
I asked Geoff about the shape of the streamlining. He said it is OK, except the top of the tail should be higher behind my butt. It was higher until this year and I had to lower it 'cause of a rule change, I told him.
My plan is to get rid of those Stegosaurus plates and smooth out the finish, I said. He said it works just great like it is and that effort is not needed. Later this was discussed with Gary, too. He said the plate and rivet texture is OK and gave me some sort of scientific explanation I could not comprehend.
Conclusion: Do not monkey with the shape and leave the riveted plates as is.
I was going to cut aluminum from the top of the fairing and lower the windshield to reduce frontal area, I told Geoff. The windshield is far more streamlined than me, he said, and it is best to leave it like it is. Geoff said I need to lower my head. My chest was on the tank and I just peeked at the horizon through the lowest part of the windshield for another trial. Aero drag coefficient dropped down to 0.457. My chest was on the tank for the next trials.
Conclusion: Keep head down and behind windshield. Tomorrow or the next day I will post something about the other trials.