[NOT A TA]

Originally Posted by Formulabruce

That area is part of the "flush and dry" and vent system developed by Fisher body. It "vents" to the cowl, and rocker, Not to the engine compartment. The cowl seal is there to prevent any suction into that area when moving.

I suppose things are different on a race car, with different thoughts on things like safety.

Ya, race car kinda stuff is reduce possibilities of bad things happening to driver as much as possible. So think "worst case" like being upside down in a car that's smashed and door doesn't open while car filled with smoke and on fire while trying to get out of 6 point harnesses and crawl out of the roll cage while the aqueous fire systems are spraying fluid. If you have just a couple extra seconds before fire gets to ya it's huge. When Roger crashed over in Europe his block melted to a puddle, that image is always on my mind.

Thanks for the cowl vent tip but I'm well aware of how the air moves through and water drains on a stock car. Aerodynamics is also a hobby and my car has been modified a lot using modern approaches. So I happen to have a large rubber seal that prevents air from moving through the cowl openings to increase down force by using the high pressure area at the base of the windshield. The seal causing smoke in the cowl is one of my concerns should a fire occur. The front side of the cowl/firewall has had all unnecessary openings for HVAC etc. covered by steel sheet metal welded in, again to help the driver should something bad happen.

Everybody likes pics so here's one doing some aero testing with a customers car. Yes with permission to tape the tufts on and he wanted me to drive it around a while anyway after replacing the complete suspension & steering before shipping it back to him. '70 TA 4 speed with Sandalwood.