Auto-tilting split spoiler

http://www.topgear.com/content/news/stories/3137/

To paraphrase the article: Next big thing in racing or next big thing in the Wendy's parking lot?

Now that is cool! I had worked on front and rear spoilers that were brake activated by a separate MC but he went further.

I have now found the next big use for my iPhone. I will use it to control the wings

I am pretty certain movable aerodynamic devices are not legal in pretty much all racing leagues, Jim Hall was WAY ahead of you here.

And no, it wasn't "auto" tilting, but same effect and same reason to outlaw it.

Neat. The wing seems to be working off the steering. When the car come off a corner under hard acceleration onto a straight the wing goes flat, same at the start of the run. I would think you would want it full up at those times. I guess it will be the next big thing in the parking lot, I don't know of any "racing" series that allows movable aero devices. Stil a neat idea

Could this be made cheap enough for the challenge?

aircooled wrote: I am pretty certain movable aerodynamic devices are not legal in pretty much all racing leagues, Jim Hall was WAY ahead of you hear. And no, it wasn't "auto" tilting, but same effect and same reason to outlaw it.

D'oh! I forgot about the Chapparal.

Tommy Suddard wrote: Could this be made cheap enough for the challenge?

If they can make a sucker car with old tank parts for less than $2007...

I say it'll be the parking lot and some team will try to use it in nascar

And for the challenge you could slice a wing in two, run cables from the wings to opposite sides of the steering wheel and shazam.

A couple servos, push rods and a buddy on the side of the course with a RC controller would do the trick.

DirtyBird222 wrote: I say it'll be the parking lot and some team will try to use it in nascar

You'd think that, for NASCAR, or other oval track racing, they could just have a wing that is static but favors downforce to one side.

Porsche had two small wings on the back of there 908/2 Longtails that reacted individually to the suspension to help with stability at high speeds. They were more like flaps and had a great deal of space between them.

Hell, even the no holds barred, "the rules are there are no rules" A Mod SCCA class has a no active aero rule

aircooled wrote: And no, it wasn't "auto" tilting, but same effect and same reason to outlaw it.

The electronics to do that would have been a little heavy back then, but I bet Jim Hall was thinking about it ...

The wing should be legal in Street Mod.

It's computer controlled - it considers acceleration, speed, yaw, etc to calculate the best angle.

seann wrote: A couple servos, push rods and a buddy on the side of the course with a RC controller would do the trick.

What happens when the other team figures out the frequency?

I'd like to know weight, and effective pounds of downforce. I mean, if this thing is gonna provide more than 5 or 10 lbs of downforce, those'd have to be some fairly stout servos, yes?

In the video it appears that the car is underwinged for autocross speeds. Now at track speeds it looks like sufficient downforce.

aircooled wrote:

Thanks for that pic. Most memorable racecar of my childhood; gawd, I loved that car!

There should probably be some type of "end plate" in the middle of the wing. When it splits the air off the high side would spill off making it less efficient. The air spilling off the low side would also go under the high side & create a lot of turbulence & drag. I would think. I am no areo expert

DirtyBird222 wrote: I say it'll be the parking lot and some team will try to use it in nascar

When I was in Daytona in 95 Randy LaJoies team got a heavy fine for having turned the trunk pins into small hydralic cylinders. Whenhe left the pits he'd drop them and the spoiler would drop down out of the air flow, then pump it back up coming of the track for inspection. It was a pretty impressive system.

It could probably be done on a budget pretty easy. Hinge the front of the wing, put a couple covertable top pistons at the back and run a line from the power steering to a valve by the driver. Sprint cars use a similar system to slide their wings back and forth, up and down can't be much harder.