--- In dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "Andrei Cular" <acular@xxxx> wrote: > Has anyone figured out what the air flow is doing around the rear edge of > the T-panel or around the louvers? I remember reading that lotus added the > louvers for aero reasons. <SNIP> Nope, the louvers were added in for astetic reasons, according to several books. JZD was touring the Hethel plant where Lotus was building the DMC-12 prototypes, and completing the engineering work. While on the tour, JZD saw an Esprit with prototype louvers on the back, and decided that the DMC-12 must have them (IMO, I agree). This is a popular example used quite frequently to describe a common difficulty with the engineering of the car: Constant Change. With the introduction of rear louvers, Lotus then had to re-engineer the rear of the car to accept them. Not bad sounding, except when you take into consideration that the rear was already complete, and now needed to accept hinges, a latch, side lips, and mounting points for the struts, that could handle the stress. As far as keeping the engine cooler? Who knows. Many people attest to this, but I've no idea what they've based this upon. I can tell you though that one day when I left work to go home, I noticed a cicada crawling around on the edge of my engine cover, below the edge of the rear louver. Taking the car up to around 80+mph, the little insect was still crawing around. I looking up a couple of seconds later, the bug was gone. So who knows if he jumped out, or got sucked out. The only real way to know for certain if the louvers really are a benefit to the car, is to film one driving fully warmed up with a Infrared Camera, and the remove the louvers, to see if there is a difference. -Robert vin 6585 "X"