It has been said that more speed is available by more power or less drag, or both. I'm intrigued with the drag part of the equation and and am currently at phase II of the process (see my jury strut posting). Phase I was elevator strut fairings and they yielded about 1.5 knots.

Of course phase II leads to phase III - finding out if a significant drag reduction might be had by fairing the Monster shocks and a bit of the associated bracing. (The unknown: can it offset the interference drag from the close quarters of the undercarriage?) So far I've laid out a 2D concept, Joe kindly created the 3D models and those were shipped off to printing this evening. A public thank you to Joe. Basically I'm planning on mounting ribs to the shocks and skinning with aluminum. The test fit unit makes it appear as if there is at least a small chance of some success.
Shock aero fairing test fit rib.jpg

Ain't experimental aircraft more fun?