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More Downforce


Spitsurfer65

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New topic, new thread:

I now have the Wheels aligned and the spoiler from Yorshire Triumphs fitted.

The question is for even more down force:

Is it an idea to fit carbon finns on the sides of the front just in front of the Wheels or is in just plain stupid?

I have a friend making all kinds of things out of carbon and he can make bespoke finns...

 

Debate, please :-)

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Based on the image, I think a deeper spoiler, (dam) would be the go. Try the "fins" by all means but you're still going to get a lot of wind (pressure) under the car, have you tried dropping the front a bit?

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 A favoutrite subject of mine!

 

The Late Silverback was an aerodynamic experiment, that followed on from my earlier Vitesse, Old Blue.

 

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I fitted that with a deep airdam, as deep as race regs would allow, and with side skirts, ditto.  

 

 

When I built Sb, the idea was to further limit the air passing under the car, by putting the radiator in the back.  Less air = faster air = less pressure = Downforce!

 

post-690-0-03779100-1401221433_thumb.jpg

 

No front radiator, no oil-to-air cooler - I used a Laminova, oil-to-water heat exchanger.   But getting a rear rad to work on the track was so difficult that I never fitted the airdam to SB, I was always working on mods to the cooling.  Eventually after two near disasters when internal hoses let go of their connectors and the car was filled with cooling water and steam (I was scalded, but my track day passenger only got wet) I called it a day and went back to a front rad.

 

So, yes, I have experience from Old Blue, and from Sb, and to be honest, I think it makes no difference.  A VItesse really is a Flying Brick, and I fear that despite its nice shape, so is a Spitfire.  Full skirts, along ths sides and behind the rear wheels with a rear diffuser, perhaps.   The way to tell would be formal testing, but no one has ever had a Triumph in a wind tunnel.  Perhaps you can be the first?

 

John

Edited by JohnD
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I did fit dive plates to the airdam, on the outer corners, no pics, I'm afraid, ina futile attempt to mke the whole schtick work, but .....

I'd hate to quench your enthusiasm - a fully aeroed Spitfire would be, er, 'awesome'!

 

 

Other people ahve gone alot further with the Vitesse, get load of this...

JOhn

 

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Thanks, Millstone, hadn't seen that!

 

And that project was to do to a Mini what I did on the Vitesse, plus a diffuser.   The gains were small, but I'm interested and gratified to find that in theory anyway I was going in the right direction!   I did read Simon MCBeath's book on "Downforce" avidly at the time.  Ho-hum, Silverback's gone to the Great Garage in the Sky now.

JOhn

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moto,

I did think about that!  But a major complaint about the Chaparral and the Brabham BT46 that followed it into F1, was that it threw stones at following/overtaken cars.  That, and the major advantage it had over them. 

I would have loved the second, but not sure I could live with the first, and the damage it would do to my racing friendships, let alone the system when in F1 anything damaged can be replaced between races but not out of my pocket!  Air intakes were on the sides, just behind the rear wheels.

 

I also thought of extra fuel injectors and an afterburner:

 

post-690-0-06528500-1401531430_thumb.jpg

 

JOhn

Edited by JohnD
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  • 1 year later...

It looks like you can see tarmac through the air dam.  If so an undertray will help the splitter work by directing the air above the splitter through the rad/engine bay and the air below the splitter under the car.

 

N.B. any major re-direction of air at the front of the car could cause front end lift if there is nowhere for the air to go so test carefully!

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