[Physics] Terminal Velocity of a Car

aerodynamicsdragfrictionnewtonian-mechanics

When explaining how a car reaches its terminal velocity, is it solely down to how aerodynamic the car is? My thoughts are that if you have a fixed mass $m$, then the contact frictional force will be constant,$ F=\mu{R}$, and because the thrust due to the engine will be much greater than this value, then surely only air resistance will increase the total value of drag? And this is why as the speed increase the acceleration begins to tend to 0 as Drag ∝$v^2$.

Best Answer

It is just a simplification to say that total drag is $\propto v^2$ and to ignore all other forms of friction. This applies because the power to overcome aerodynamic drag is $\gg$ power loss on the drivetrain and rolling resistance. If you included all the other terms the final speed will decrease only very slightly.

So a simplified model of acceleration (as a function of speed $v$) is

$$ a = \frac{P(v)}{m v} - \beta v^2 $$

Where $P(v)$ is the engine power at speed $v$, $m$ is the mass and $\beta$ is some drag constant.

Top speed occurs when $a=0$ and hence $$v_{top} \approx \sqrt[3]{ \frac{P_{max}}{m \beta} } $$

This applies only the the car is drag limits (and not gear limited) and that it is designed with getting peak power at the rpm corresponding to top speed. Some cars with 6 speeds, may only achieve top speed in 5th gear, and 6th gear is just an "overdrive".