The Effect of Aerodynamic Drag on Top Speed
To many people, aerodynamic drag is a strong contributing factor to passenger vehicle fuel consumption in moderate to high speeds. But what is really the relationship between the speed that a vehicle is travelling and the proportion of the engine power used to overcome aerodynamic drag?
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The engine power needed to overcome aerodynamic drag is proportional to:
1) velocity (i.e. to double the top speed, it requires the engine power to be doubled)
X) square of velocity (i.e. to double the top speed, it requires the engine power to be fourfold)
2) cube of velocity (i.e. to double the top speed, it requires the engine power to be eightfold)