Frontal Square Footage of the 370Z

gpa7pk · 12-28-2009, 05:57 PM

I'm trying to figure out how the frontal sqare footage of a car (in this case the 370Z) is calculated. Does the "cd" figure into the formula? Is there a forumla for this?

jpit · 12-28-2009, 06:03 PM

Road and Track estimates it to be 23.7 sq. ft..

BrianMSmith · 12-28-2009, 07:22 PM

you get this figure from a projection of the car's forward facing surfaces onto a 2 dimensional plane, then integrating the area. Hard to do without a CAD drawing (and a computer), as any photograph would introduce "perspective" into the geometry that would skew any scaled measurement from a "2D" photo.

The drag coefficient often uses frontal area as a scale factor:

Cd = total drag force/ reference area/ q

So, if you know the total drag force in pounds at a given velocity (q), you could then calculate the reference area. Cd ~ .29

12-28-2009, 05:57 PM	#1 (permalink)
gpa7pk Base Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Texas Posts: 135 Drives: 1959 Triumph TR3A Rep Power: 16	Frontal Square Footage of the 370Z I'm trying to figure out how the frontal sqare footage of a car (in this case the 370Z) is calculated. Does the "cd" figure into the formula? Is there a forumla for this?

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12-28-2009, 06:03 PM	#2 (permalink)
jpit Enthusiast Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Washington State Posts: 440 Drives: 370Z Tour MT w/Spt Rep Power: 16	Road and Track estimates it to be 23.7 sq. ft..

12-28-2009, 07:22 PM	#3 (permalink)
BrianMSmith Enthusiast Member Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: secret Posts: 267 Drives: 370Z, Ducati 748S Rep Power: 16	you get this figure from a projection of the car's forward facing surfaces onto a 2 dimensional plane, then integrating the area. Hard to do without a CAD drawing (and a computer), as any photograph would introduce "perspective" into the geometry that would skew any scaled measurement from a "2D" photo. The drag coefficient often uses frontal area as a scale factor: Cd = total drag force/ reference area/ q So, if you know the total drag force in pounds at a given velocity (q), you could then calculate the reference area. Cd ~ .29