“Leroy the Savage” is a very appropriate name for Cleetus McFarland’s stripped C5 Corvette. We’ve seen this tube-framed wonder machine rip down the strip and it’s properly fast. Two turbochargers, a built-to-kill engine and a driver with zero self-preservation instinct is a fantastic combination at the dragstrip. But here’s a good question to ask: just how aerodynamic is this thing, anyways? Enzo Ferrari once famously said, “Aerodynamics are for people who can’t build engines,” but even he ended up eating his words by the time the Ferrari F40 was in it’s design phases. The truth of the matter is this: the smoother through the air, the less power is needed to maintain a certain speed; or, the smoother through the air, the faster you will be given that power output is equal. Or, simplified: How much of an aerodynamic disaster is Leroy, and are there ways to make this little rocket ship even faster without dumping more money into engine development?
The gang is at the A2 Wind Tunnel in Mooresville, North Carolina and Leroy is in the loud room. A C5 Corvette is a pretty slippery car on it’s own, so long as you don’t have the headlights on. But Leroy is wearing no body panels, the roof is open, the doors are open, there’s usually a wing on the back, and the two turbos sticking straight up into the air aren’t helping matters, either. But less is more…right? Is the car a barn door or a breeze?
This is the only race car I’ve seen that has the same aero qualities if it were going down the track sideways instead of nose first. Given enough HP, even a barn door will fly…..
Also known as the F-4 principle