Aerodynamic Resources

This is a list of books, tools, and other resources I frequently reference.

JKF Aero

Kyle Forster is a Formula 1 aerodynamics engineer who worked for the Mercedes F1 team during their recent period of dominance. He’s done quite a bit with touring cars, and is very familiar with Miatas.

  • Race Car Aerodynamics: the Definitive Course – The course costs $1000, but it’s a bargain considering how much you learn. It goes on sale a couple times a year for 30% off, so look out for that. If you have a keen interest in aero, or simply want all the cheat codes, start here.
  • JKF Aero consultations – Kyle will send you form to get all the details on your car, and then go over everything in an online meeting. Considering his credentials, his consultation rates are very reasonable ($175 first hour, $15o thereafter in 2022). I’ve done six hours of consults (some as a fly on the wall, some specifically for my car), and I’ve learned a metric shit ton.
  • Kyle.engineers – His YouTube channel, very informative, and even has some Miata-specific content.

Books

  • Aerodynamics of Road Vehicles: From Fluid Mechanics to Vehicle Engineering – The grandfather of all aero texts. Expensive, but worth it for the historical perspective. When you see black and white drawings or graphs and you’re not sure where they came from, it’s probably from here.
  • Race Car Aerodynamics, by Joseph Katz, is more technical, but still pretty accessible to the non-mathematicians among us (me). He also goes into great depth on wings and airfoil shapes, and if you’re a more technical person, you’ll love this book. It’s really well written and I reference this book all the time. Katz has published many scientific papers, which he often cites as references. Not in a pigheaded way, it’s just proof that he knows his shit.
  • Competition Car Aerodynamics, by Simon McBeath is an outstanding guide to both closed- and open-wheel race cars. The 3rd edition includes information on computational fluid dynamics (CFD), and it’s the one to have. McBeath has another book called Competition Car Downforce, and it has similar information, but less of it. There’s a lengthy DIY section on building your own wings.
  • Practical Racing Aerodynamics by Robert Tarzwell is exactly what the title says it is. It’s not full of formulas or CFD tests, but real-world knowledge from a racer. This is a great book if you want to take his advice and get to it. But I like to nerd out and know why, and this book doesn’t always tell me. But it will probably serve the average car builder just fine.
  • Ali / Wings – This book is simultaneously written in both Italian and English and could serve as a Rosetta Stone for those inclined. The author looks at various car-specific wings. You won’t get a lot out of this if you don’t understand pressure gradients.
  • Modifying the Aerodynamics of Your Road Car – I don’t know why he doesn’t do coast-down testing, but otherwise lots of great practical advice from Julian Edgar.

Tools

  • OptimumLap – Once I started using OL, I stopped using anything else. Mostly because I like going around a race track, and OptimumLap is the best way I have to simulate that. It’s free, and easy to use. OptimumG has other software that’s more advanced, but it’s also expensive (and an annual subscription) and so I haven’t tried it.
  • Airfoil Tools – A library of wing shapes, calculators, and tools that allow you to compare wings, or create your own wing shapes and plot them. If you’re curious about wing design, this is an incredible resource.
  • BigFoil – This site is similar to Airfoil Tools, with more widgets. You can look at data (for example Cl at AoA) and compare how Xfoil and JavaFoil interpret that, and sometimes even get wind tunnel data to compare with.
  • JavaFoil – If you want to make your own wing and see how the pressures look in free stream, this is your tool. It’s kind of like Airfoil Tools, but you can specify the coordinates of your wing.
  • HP Wizard is a deep online resource. I particularly like playing what-if with their drag calculator. They have performance calculators, but nothing like OptimumLap.
  • For calculating top speed, drag losses, and the like, I use the RSR Bonneville Aero-Horsepower & Drag Loss Calculator. There are probably others, but I’m a bike guy, and I like to scroll through bike pictures.
  • In their December 2013 issue, Grassroots Motorsports did an article on how to calculate drag doing coast-down testing. Download their Excel spreadsheet and plug in the highlighted numbers for Weight, Start Speed, End Speed, Time, and Tire Size.

Online Resources

  • The Miata Turbo Aerodynamics forum has a lot of great info, and is growing all the time. The forum started as a single thread called Post your DIY aero pics, and it’s a great source of DIY Miata aero. You’ll need patience to sort through 90+ pages, and my frustration with the lack of organization and navigability is half the reason I created this website. The sticky on this forum, Aerodynamics Section: Intro & History is a must-read. A note on Miata Turbo, it’s not a noob-friendly site. If you want to ask dumb questions, go elsewhere. They didn’t like me.
  • Flow Field Features and Aerodynamic Drag of Passenger Cars looks like it was created as a presentation, and this is a PDF version of it. It may be a bit older, but has a lot of great illustrations (some from Hucho) and simple explanations for reducing drag and lift.
  • Build Your Own Racecar has a section dedicated to aerodynamics, with simple and easy to understand concepts and to-dos. You won’t find a lot of technical details here, but it’s solid advice.
  • S2000 Aerodynamics – Wrong car, but good information, and some Miata stuff pulled from the Hancha Group.
  • The Ecomodder website and forum isn’t really a source for racers, and I’m sure most of the members look down on racing as a waste of gas. But this is a great place to find information about drag reduction, and there’s a lot of great DIY and experimentation going on.