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Originally Posted by Roger Crier
You could I suppose go one further and fit one as a hood ornament, especialy for checking for any draughting effect! That is after all how coolant temperature was obtained once upon a time.
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A similar "experiment" has already been done for drafting using a radiator fan as the Anemometer. There's a recent thread on the topic in the Mod & Tech forum. But if you've got a familar route then I preferr the K.I.S.S. principal (Keep It Simple Stupid) and use the MPG meter. But that's just me.
Aero drag is a well known quantifiable value based on the aero CD (coefficient of drag). It is not a significant factor of MPG efficiency until you reach speeds of 40 MPH'ish. For winds that are substantially in the direction of travel, either opposing or assisting, a simple vector calculation of its force would be sufficient to use in the basic aero drag formula. But since the aero CD of most vehicles is not defined for winds 90 deg to a vehicle's length, calculations would become extremely complex with turbulance and steering correction factors being most significant. Unlike a ship at sea, travelling a compass heading, roads wander about without reguard for bearing. So aero factors will be constantly changing making for a highly variable and dynamic aero factor.
Use the MPG gauge.
HTH!
Using an Anemometer
It seems that hand held Anemometers are quite cheap on ebay. How feasible would it be to use one of these to get a "real time" idea of how much the wind is assisting or hindering your motion, by simply holding one out of the window for a few seconds then comparing the wind speed reading with your road speed?
