Aerodynamics

I know we have had a lot of talk about wings,spoilers etc.  But.

Yesterday I was watching a Nascar race and noted the small spoiler and splitter and these things are going 200 mph.   I know they are slammed with virtually no suspension travel and the turns are banked.

Yet they achieve down force.   Interesting.

As Road and Track said 30 years ago after a Hendrick Chev handed a Le Man's spec long tail Porsche it's ass, "It may be a brick, but it's a very aerodynamic brick." Note: top speed on a 7 mile oval, no turning required.

Keep the air out from under the car, and downforce happens.

Streetwiseguy said:

Keep the air out from under the car, and downforce happens.

That reminds me of an old BBC doco I watched years ago called "gentlemen, lift your skirts" about how the Williams race team dealt with the changes of rules regarding aero and ground effects in F1 in the early 80s

Skirts we're being used to keep air out from under the cars to generate massive amounts of downforce

Streetwiseguy said:

As Road and Track said 30 years ago after a Hendrick Chev handed a Le Man's spec long tail Porsche it's ass, "It may be a brick, but it's a very aerodynamic brick." Note: top speed on a 7 mile oval, no turning required.

I feel the need to jump in and defend 962-103’s honor here.  It was gear limited to 227 for that test, and it hit it. I don’t think anyone is under the illusion that it could not have gone faster if given the gearing to do so.

Everyone expects the Porsche to go fast because it looks fast. The NASCAR brick is unassumingly fast. 

I wonder how fast you could get a modern Cup car to go, say at Bonneville, if you could get enough traction. Stuff a non NASCAR engine in there, like a punched out big block or turbos, or whatever powerhouse combo, and let it rip.

iceracer said:

I know we have had a lot of talk about wings,spoilers etc.  But.

Yesterday I was watching a Nascar race and noted the small spoiler and splitter and these things are going 200 mph.   I know they are slammed with virtually no suspension travel and the turns are banked.

Yet they achieve down force.   Interesting.

The cup teams spend a little bit of time fine tuning that downforce and drag to get to 200+mph. The sanctioning body does not really like to have the car going too much above 200. Something about insurance rates above 200mph. The only way they keep the Cup cars limited to about 200 at Dyatona and Talladega is with engine power reductions. They could go quite a bit faster if the engines were unrestricted, but then the tires would be the limiting factor.