FXX headlights

They're probably cheaper and easier to replace. Such a minimal thing like that probably doesn't cause that much drag either.

 

I've wondered the exaxt same thing and the explenation AGNRDARNETW gave just doesn't work for me.

 

best way to lower the drag and increase stability on a car/body is to elininate the liminar airflow over the body, you want it to be turbulent (from what i've read/learned about fluid flow and thats how my firend, who is going for his Ph.D. in aeronautical engineering, explained it to me). this is part of the reason golf balls have dimples on them instead of being smooth spheres. those headlights being set in (uglier than flush mounts but in the case of the FXX pretty doesn't matter) could create a small bubble or disturbance in the airflow very near the front of the car on the sides and serve to brake up any laminar flow trajectories which are forming over that portion of the body since the rest of that featues is a smooth curving surface roughly 1/3 the length of the vehicle. the center has the pressure region at the base of the windshield, the two sides of the center have the radiator duct outlets, etc.

i'm not saying this is the right answer but it is a possibility.

i'd be very ineterested in knowing what the absolute truth is "from the horses mouth" so to speak

 

they do help with lift by creating turbulent flow over the surface, apparently (again the guy getting his Ph.D.) this helps create lift much better than anything else. all you're trying to do on a car is create lift in the downward direction, so... who knows?!?

like i said, i'm not positive, but its a possibility.

 

The theory with the golf ball makes sense, because if indents create lift, then bumps jutting out of the car should create downforce.

 

The indents do not make lift on a golf ball, what they do is create turbulence around the ball. Smooth airflow over an object has more surface contact that surface contact creates surface friction. By creating turbulence over a surface you are preventing the contact of all the air on the surface, therefore making less surface contact and less surface friction.