spoilers

[vandan]

hey guys was wondering,spoilers are fitted on cars so that on high speed turning they do not spin right¿then who do people boast about carbon fibre spoilers when it is lighter and IMHO will not suit the purpose¿

[autopsyche]

The spoilers are there to produce aerodynamic downforce not add weight as you might be considering. It is the shape what matters and not the composition. Think of it as an inverted airplane wing... the faster you go the more it pushes the car down.

Arush

[Abhay]

Arush said it already...

[Shan2nu]

It is the shape what matters and not the composition.

Actually even composition does make a diff. Given the light weight nature of "Carbon Fibre", it makes sense to have them on your car, since the overall weight of the car is kept under check.

Shan2nu

[autopsyche]

By composition i meant in terms of weight in the context of what vandan was assuming (probably with metallic spoilers that they add weight), otherwise of course carbonfibre spoilers are better than aluminum counterparts because they keep the weight in check.

[Rtech]

Don't forget the "active" downforce tried out by some F1 teams on circuits such as Monza. What they did was make the carbon fibre a bit weaker in some areas. What this did was that on the high speed straights where they needed minimum downforce, the actual foce of the wind flowing over the wing causes it to flex, hence reducing drag.

But, as soon as the force of the wond drops (when braking for a corner), the wing moves back into position ready to provide downforce where needed.

[RX135]

There was a discussion earlier on this. Steeroid had mentioned that the downforce by spoiler is not really significant to count, at speeds less than 200 kmph. Though I personally feel that it might be useful at 3 digit speeds.

[Shan2nu]

No matter what speed you're doing, a spoiler is constantly producing a certain amout of downforce wrt to it's wing angle, direction of wind, vehicle speed and to a certain extent....air temperature.

Experts say that a wing angle of upto 15 degrees can be used to create downforce. Anything more than that will create more drag than downfocre, that's why supercars like the SLR and Mclaren F1 have flaps that get activated when you slam on the brakes.

There was a discussion earlier on this. Steeroid had mentioned that the downforce by spoiler is not really significant to count, at speeds less than 200 kmph.

If that was true then WRC cars wouldn't need spoilers. Even a high speed jump at 160 kmph requires the rear spoiler to do it's job or else, the car dives nose down.

Shan2nu

[Rtech]

Even a high speed jump at 160 kmph requires the rear spoiler to do it's job or else, the car dives nose down.

When in the air, you adjust the angle of the car with the brake and throttle. If you want the nose down, press the brakes. If you want the nose up, press the gas pedal. Ofcourse, WRC cars are not up there for long. But checkout motoX riders next time.

[Shan2nu]

When in the air, you adjust the angle of the car with the brake and throttle. If you want the nose down, press the brakes. If you want the nose up, press the gas pedal. Ofcourse, WRC cars are not up there for long. But checkout motoX riders next time.

U mean to say that removing the rear spoiler on a WRC car won't affect the way the cars jump at 160kmph? I doubt.

Shan2nu

[Rtech]

it may, (though I doubt it) but you're not gonna find the teams adjusting their wings for those couple of seconds the car spends in the air. At the end of the day, any protrusion from the body would affect airflow.

[Shan2nu]

it may, (though I doubt it) but you're not gonna find the teams adjusting their wings for those couple of seconds the car spends in the air. At the end of the day, any protrusion from the body would affect airflow.

SS8: 1714 Mökkiperä 2 (13.93km)
The battle at the top of the leaderboard intensified slightly as Loeb won the stage, a slim 0.3sec ahead of Gronholm in second and 0.8sec ahead of Markko Martin who was third. But the biggest news from SS8 concerned Petter Solberg, who dropped 20sec to the leaders after an incident-filled 13kms. Early in the test, a sharp impact to the back of the car dislodged his Impreza's boot lid and spoiler, which seriously affected its aerodynamic properties - particularly at the rear. Without the stabilising influence of its wing, the rear end of Petter's car shot high into the air at the next jump, with the result that it landed squarely on its nose. Before any of its wheels had touched the ground, and at high speed, Petter's car was deflected left into a ditch where it continued along for more than 100 metres, collecting further damage from rocks and trees as it went. Shaken but undeterred, Petter and Phil immediately re-joined the road and powered their battered Subaru across the line in the 15th fastest time. The time lost dropped Petter to fourth overall, and promoted Markko Martin to third.
Fastest Time: Loeb (Citroen)


Petter Solberg

The car and tyres were improving through the day and we were in a good position near the top of the times. At the end of the day we lost a lot of time when, after clipping the rear wing from the car, we had no downforce over a massive jump in SS8. We landed on the radiator then went off into a ditch and hit a lot of rocks and trees. It is a long time since I had something like that. It was amazing that the car popped back out again and onto the road and we were able to continue. I think almost the whole side was ripped off and we still continued. The guys have done a good job to get everything back together. I'm not giving up and tomorrow we'll be pushing really hard for third.

Article Source

With Rear Wing


Without Rear Wing


Image Source

Shan2nu

[Rtech]

Great info Shan. I stand corrected. I guess I forgot about Finland!! They probably spend more time in the air than on the ground there!

[Technocrat]

Ok this makes me ask this question:

How many of the spoilers(company provided or 3rd party) that we see on our cars(extra fitting) are calculated ?

[vandan]

so each car will require custom spoilers right¿i mean you cannot just remove the spoiler of one car and plant it on another right¿