Here's the new Volvo in-house wind tunnel simulator, a 28 million dollar facility that is the first in its class to have a road simulator. In theory, it will allow the Swedish manufacturer to precisely test the effect of road changes and airflows all around the car to make cars more fuel efficient. Strangely enough, Tim Walker, the aerodynamics expert at Volvo Cars, doesn't mention other possible uses, like drying the hair and bodies of a multitude of lusty valkyries and/or vikings just out of the shower:
It's a bit like measuring the aerodynamic properties of a car that is standing still in a car park during a powerful storm. Our new wind tunnel, on the other hand, has been designed to exactly replicate the flow of air around and underneath the car when driving on a real road at speeds of up to 155kph. Our wind tunnel uses sophisticated techniques at the forefront of aerodynamic technology
This means that they have been able to reduce the air resistance in their new Volvo C30 DRIVe by 10%. That's 11.88 gallons of gas per 9,300 miles, an average driving year. Not too shabby. [Gizmag]