Turbo Intake Air

[NewyorkKopter]

Hey, you know how alot of mid-engine race cars have turbo snorkels for the intake air like the Nissan R390 , Audi R8, etc. My question is that instead of using those protuding snorkels, why don't they get the intake air from underneath the car?

this is what the R8, R390 GT1, etc have



why dont they use this way instead of the snorkel that probably add drag?


the R390 and its turbo snorkels


the R8 and its turbo snorkels

[beyondloadedSE]

I would guess because the way the car is streamlined, makes it more beneficial to have it on top.

[NewyorkKopter]

but then again if you get rid of the snorkels, the drag will definetly decrease.

[Schister66]

the drag may decrease if they get rid of the snorkle, but i'm sure that they get better airflow, cleaner air, and less resistance into the turbo which probably helps spool up by using the snorkle.....

[dimefury]

it keeps them from sucking up debris

[Schister66]

and there's barely any air moving under those cars....

[drdisque]

and the air under the car is under slight vacuum already

[NewyorkKopter]

so wait what would happen if they used the car under the air?

[Schister66]

the air under the car is dirty, full of debris, in a vaccuum, and wouldn't like to enter the engine so there would be resistance to flow which would slow the spool of the turbos and slow the car down. The aerodynamics will suffer very little but the engine likes the nice clean air up top.....

[NewyorkKopter]

thats true, but what if you put a air filter to prevent anything from entering the compressor section of the turbo?

[Reed]

the underside of a race car is a fairly intense vacume whereas the air above the car is higher pressure. Not to mention that it is very difficult to design an undertray that will create the most downforce without having to worry about intakes. Drag is not a huge deal because that can be overcome with a little more power, but downforce is quite hard to come by.

[Reed]

this should be in the aerodynamics forum (that doesn't exist) that i suggested a while ago.

[NewyorkKopter]

o for a second there I was like where? where is it?
but can you find a way to effienciently design the underside of a car, and incorporate intakes for the turbos into it?

[beyondloadedSE]

Originally Posted by NewyorkKopter

o for a second there I was like where? where is it?
but can you find a way to effienciently design the underside of a car, and incorporate intakes for the turbos into it?

If you want your car to fly off the road...like literally leave the payment. You can reduce drag on the underneath of a car, but to actually direct air underneath there for an intake is stupid. Cars are streamlined so the fluid flows over the car, not underneath which helps give downforce and better aerodynamics. Getting rid of the scoop on top would eliminate minimal to neglible drag on that car. If your building a car for a top speed record, then yes, an alternate location might be better to squeeze every tenth of a mph for top speed. For a car like this, its serves no real benefits.

[nissanfanatic]

Gotta remember that there is a pressure drop in that scoop as well... So it isn't really "drag" in the situations that this particular car runs in. It is kinda the same thing as pushing a vacuum cleaner hose forward...