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      06-04-2011, 12:48 AM   #31
arggg45
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I'm not looking to get into a pissing match here, but I kinda have to take issue with a few of your points, on both an academic and practical sense. I agree with you that most people don't need aero on their cars, but that said, some of your points are sweeping generalizations, and distract from what I think you are trying to get at.

Quote:
Originally Posted by The HACK View Post
Again, it's simple. At 3,200 lbs these cars don't have any significant need for down-force. There's not enough lift on either end at speed to really have the need.

Where any form of splitter/endplate/giant wing will come in handy, is when you're competing with a heavily modified car with a lot of weight reduction AND fat @ss tires. When you have this particular combination, like 500-600 lbs removed from this car, with a ton of power, you CAN and will experience loss of traction and some of that negative effect of aerodynamics causing loss of grip (since less weight = less grip).

In practical terms? They're useless for 99.9% of the population. Heck they're probably useless unless you get to the Modified class in BMW CCA Club Race, or some of the "unlimited" classes where massive weight reductions are allowed with CF panels and lexan glasses and completely stripped cars. However, with a front splitter, there IS less drag penalty compared to giant rear wings, so you'll see a lot of Prepared class cars run them because, well, every bit of added grip helps. So if we're strictly talking about the splitters up front, or extended end plates, they're certainly more helpful than full-on wings.

But they (wings and splitters) sure look good. I'd rock it whether or not they improve my lap times.
The proper application of downforce, in street and race cars, isn't necessarily implemented to negate lift. It is often used as a tuning mechanism to open up other tuning options, i.e. shock valving and settings, spring rates, swaybar stiffness, etc.

As someone with a fairly in-depth knowledge of car setup and tuning, the tuning options available to a car with aero greatly outweigh the options of a car without. Especially because once you start spending the money to get a functional wing (APR, Voltex, Varis, etc) you can always change the AOA of the wing.
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