As part of the general program for comparing leading European automotive wind tunnels, three reference cars derived by Volkswagen (VW), Pininfarina (PF) and FIAT Research Center (CRT) from production models, were tested in different configurations.
This report contains the result of tests carried out on a CRF reference car in CRF, VW, DB and PF wind tunnels as well as on the road.
The wind tunnel tests of the car in 7 different configurations show a fairly good agreement particularly for the drag coefficients measured in the various tunnels.
Road tests were carried out with the car in three configurations at constant speed (measuring front and rear axle lift, body pressure and visualising the wake) and in coast-down (measuring aerodynamic resistance).
The results obtained proved that road driving conditions with no side wind or turbulence are correctly simulated in wind tunnel tests.