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W. Wright

S&M-ASM-55 June 24, 1968

L. G. Alexakos 4831 Space Huntsville

J. E. Vaughn 4831 Spac Huntsville

ress on Wind Tunnel Tests of Automobiles

The high level meeting with Mr. Bornhauser on June 10, 1968 did not yield
any encouraging results. Although the presentation was very well given,
it failed to impress upper management significantly. If anything, the
presentation gave too much in the form of results, leaving the impression
that most of the work has already been done; that aerodynamicists have
enough ’’feel” for the values of various parameters and only need to ’eyeball”
configurations in order to evaluate their aerodynamic performance.
Mr. Tom Gleason, Chief, Body Electrical, indicated in private at the
conclusion of the meeting that he did not intend to let the subject drop but
would continue to push aerodynamics wherever he could. What all this means,
as far as Huntsville is concerned, I think, is that although Deaty and Dawley
and up to Gleason like our proposal and are convinced that aerodynamics is
a vital production aspect of the car, they have not convinced the upper manage­
ment of this and it will be extremely hard for them to find funds to let the
proposed work proceed. Therefore, for the time being, it does not look
fruitful for the proposal work.

If Deaty stays with his earlier convictions, the prospects for sporatic work
in support of the race car program could materialize. He indicated that
if this Lab was unsuccessful in selling the aerodynamics they would
consider the possibility of dropping their interest and call on Huntsville for
aerodynamic support when needed. I am not so sure we would want to foster
such an idea for we cannot necessarily afford to come running to their
assistance as needed. Also, to do this the work should be carried out in
Huntsville; which means we must develop some form of model making
capability.

On the immediate program, everything looked pretty good until yesterday
when styling discovered an error in the greenhouse location for the Charger
model. In checking their clay it was discovered that the side windows and
”A ” posts were pulled out on each side approximately 3/16 inch. Correcting
the mistake will amount to correcting the clay in the affected area, recasting
and making new partial fiberglass pieces to place in the affected region of
the model. This will mean approximately three days lost in an already
tight schedule. I will wait several more weeks however before making any
decision on the possibility of slipping the tunnel test start date.