autobahn going the way of the dinosaur? attn: Dirk

[Ron at bunch.org (Ron@bunch.org)]

Those are very good points.

In mown experience, I found the wall of air pushed by the faster cars to be 
very slight. They are smaller than a semi and are passing you because they 
not only have more power, but are also probably a lot cleaner 
aerodynamically. On a NASCAR track with attendant curves, the influence 
could be much different. That's outside my experience.

If semi passes you on the Autobahn, replace your sparkplugs. However, 
that's a good move on drafting the semi.

My 86 US spec 8V would indicate 115MPH on level stretch, cruise control 
engaged.
It would do 125MPH draftin a faster car or even just downhill on the 
longest stretch I could find. (Hmm! I never  tried drafting downhill. Too 
late now.)
A trick on the Autobahn is to let a friend draft you while you drive the 
faster car, allowing him to ride in your low pressure area and gain as much 
as 10MPH beyond what his car is capable of.

Then, pull right and watch him hit the wall of air. (Just kidding.)
There is a lot of trust out there when you do that sort of thing.
You can die very quickly and ruin a good car, but it is a joy to experience.

At 10:02 AM 2/19/04 -0700, John Klun wrote:
>Y'all-
>
>I also suspect that a vehicle traveling in the 'fast' lane of the autobahn 
>doing a 120 mph+ coming up on a vehicle doing 70 mph+ will be pushing a 
>wall of air.  When that wall of air 'hits' the vehicle in front, it could 
>actually 'push' that vehicle.  That vehicle getting hit by that 'wall' of 
>air can lose traction and become unpredictable to handle.  At that point 
>there isn't much you can do other than ride it out.  How many times have 
>you seen this happen during a NASCAR race- the overtaking car comes up on 
>the bumper of the slower car and the slower car ends up in the wall or 
>unless the driver is reeeeally good, he controls the breaking loose of the 
>rear end and avoids a crash.
>
>How many of you have followed an 18 wheeler doing 75 mph+ on an 
>interstate.  If you're close enough, you'll feel the  'hole' in the air 
>made by the truck sucking you into that hole.  Now, imagine you're driving 
>120 mph+ and your pushing your own wall of air...  In my Vanagon (and 
>other passenger cars I've driven), I am buffeted by that disturbed air and 
>it can be scary.  Many years ago driving cross country through 400 miles 
>of New Mexico, I hooked up with a trucker on my CB and with his permission 
>and pre-arranged signals, he let me drive in his slipstream at 70-80 
>mph.  At that time, there were few cars or trucks on the road and we 
>stayed constantly in communication.  I was driving a 1980 short bed Chevy 
>van  with a 6 cyl.  My normal gas mileage over the trip was around  17-18 
>mpg.  The 400 miles behind the truck got me 22 mpg.  This was a thrill 
>I'll never forget and something we'll never duplicate again because of the 
>increasing traffic on our interstates.
>
>John
>