F-body Aerodynamics
TECH Apprentice
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 354
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Doing some salt racing? Sounds interesting.
As long as your keep a relatively symmetrical profile, front to back, you won't have to worry too much about lift. And hacking off the roof should go a long way toward that, since the C4 is rather wedge shaped.
What sort of goal are you going to try to reach?
As long as your keep a relatively symmetrical profile, front to back, you won't have to worry too much about lift. And hacking off the roof should go a long way toward that, since the C4 is rather wedge shaped.
What sort of goal are you going to try to reach?
TECH Regular
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 437
Likes: 2
From: Cleveland
Doing some salt racing? Sounds interesting.
As long as your keep a relatively symmetrical profile, front to back, you won't have to worry too much about lift. And hacking off the roof should go a long way toward that, since the C4 is rather wedge shaped.
What sort of goal are you going to try to reach?
As long as your keep a relatively symmetrical profile, front to back, you won't have to worry too much about lift. And hacking off the roof should go a long way toward that, since the C4 is rather wedge shaped.
What sort of goal are you going to try to reach?
It was bought as a beater to explore the outer reaches of what can be done for less than $20k. It kind of snowballed from the time the opti went and I yanked the motor for a freshen. Then sold off the craptastic interior to finance a real motor build.It's hard to say what I end up doing with the car. Right now it's just something to apply my mind to and buy cool tools so I increase my fabricating skills. 600chp. Licence plates. hpde's. drag. standing mile. bonneville, a little of everything.
I'll be posting photos of the build on corvetteforum when it's not so scary looking.
TECH Apprentice
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 354
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Just a back on topic bump - for those who think the F-Body cd (or aero in general) is poor, check out the SSC Ultimate Aero at Jay's Garage - http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/ (as of today [7/14/08] it's the currently playing video)
That car has a cd of .357. That means, magnum refernces aside, our cars actually have a better cd than the worlds fastest car, made of the most high end materials and with lots of modern engineering and testing for absolute speed. Not too shabby.
(obviously, downforce creates drag and I'm sure at over 220mph the SSC-UA is going to better handle the air, but still..... )
That car has a cd of .357. That means, magnum refernces aside, our cars actually have a better cd than the worlds fastest car, made of the most high end materials and with lots of modern engineering and testing for absolute speed. Not too shabby.
(obviously, downforce creates drag and I'm sure at over 220mph the SSC-UA is going to better handle the air, but still..... )
TECH Regular
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 437
Likes: 2
From: Cleveland
Just a back on topic bump - for those who think the F-Body cd (or aero in general) is poor, check out the SSC Ultimate Aero at Jay's Garage - http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/ (as of today [7/14/08] it's the currently playing video)
That car has a cd of .357. That means, magnum refernces aside, our cars actually have a better cd than the worlds fastest car, made of the most high end materials and with lots of modern engineering and testing for absolute speed. Not too shabby.
(obviously, downforce creates drag and I'm sure at over 220mph the SSC-UA is going to better handle the air, but still..... )
That car has a cd of .357. That means, magnum refernces aside, our cars actually have a better cd than the worlds fastest car, made of the most high end materials and with lots of modern engineering and testing for absolute speed. Not too shabby.
(obviously, downforce creates drag and I'm sure at over 220mph the SSC-UA is going to better handle the air, but still..... )
TECH Apprentice
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 354
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I was doing a bit of research and there is a bit of info on the ZR-1 and Porsche Carrera GT that suggests they have a c.d. of .37/38 as well to get the lift characteristics where they want them. I think most of the manufactuers out there blow smoke (pardon the pun) when they advertise the numbers...things like leaving the mirrors off etc.
Also, as you said, those higher-end cars have to manipulate the air, not just slip through it, they have to negate lift and even create downforce at speed, so that spoils their cd a little. A car that has less effort put into creating downforce/reducing lift/manipulating air flow could actually have a lower cd, and from that perspective, it could put our car in a worse light. But even still, it's pretty darn slippery.
And as I said in a previous post, it's slippery and stable enough that Gale Banks took an '88 or '89 GTA, swapped engines and wheels, added some safety equipement and went to Bonneville and damn near touched 300mph. (I think he was in the 280s, but I can't recall exactly)
I'd be curious to see how a 4th Gen would fair against a 3rd (say peak of each) and how an LT1 would fair against an LS1, and Formula vs T/A and WS6 vs non, etc.
TECH Apprentice
Joined: May 2007
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I know this is still a 3rd Gen clip, but it's still F-Body aero related. lol 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XI06R...eature=related
They bring up the drag once they start talking about Trans Am. Plus it's a cool blast from the past (and in the same vein as the 98 dealer video).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XI06R...eature=related
They bring up the drag once they start talking about Trans Am. Plus it's a cool blast from the past (and in the same vein as the 98 dealer video).
Anyone know about the diffrents in the Z28, and SS rear spoliers. In drag racing, I know people found taking the WS6 spoiler off then gained a few MPH. The SS spolier dosn;t look that bad, just the lip at the end in the middle. Over the Z28 thats flat.
SS
http://a284.ac-images.myspacecdn.com...1580daf3e3.jpg
SS
http://a284.ac-images.myspacecdn.com...1580daf3e3.jpg
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i havent read this whole post yet, but anyone remember the prostock truck craze a few years ago, i remember the windshields on those were steep enough with a cowl induction hood to build significant manifold pressure. they also had a very well designed hood/airbox induction system to make it airtight to the carbs from the cowl. very trick.
more on intakes, i think british toca hondas were turning the heads around the cars to also untilize the high pressure at the front of the car.
and some japanese companies were using the the low pressure areas at the corners of cars to suck exhaust out of the muffler.
more on intakes, i think british toca hondas were turning the heads around the cars to also untilize the high pressure at the front of the car.
and some japanese companies were using the the low pressure areas at the corners of cars to suck exhaust out of the muffler.
Last edited by Sbertolone; Jul 24, 2008 at 12:09 AM.
curious as well....
..so I'm an idiot and didn't even realize there was a road racing section on this board
I created a splitter for the 1998-2002 Camaros mainly for appearance (looks more aggressive and protects the bumper from scrapes) but I am sure some of you guys could mod it (add some support bars or spacers) and make FUNCTIONAL use of it.
The holes that it mounts with are elongated so that you can adjust it forward or back about 1.5"... Again, I made it for appearance and I am sure the people on this forum are way more knowledgeable about the possibility of its functionality than I am.
A lot of people (myself included) just wanted to see it get made in the Appearance Section and no one would do it for us so I stepped up and got it done...
So, I'm looking for the experts to chime in here... Do you think it will actually help with aerodynamics? For pics check out the link in my sig (FYI, it is designed so that it does NOT block the opening under the bumper for the air dam)...
I created a splitter for the 1998-2002 Camaros mainly for appearance (looks more aggressive and protects the bumper from scrapes) but I am sure some of you guys could mod it (add some support bars or spacers) and make FUNCTIONAL use of it.
The holes that it mounts with are elongated so that you can adjust it forward or back about 1.5"... Again, I made it for appearance and I am sure the people on this forum are way more knowledgeable about the possibility of its functionality than I am.
A lot of people (myself included) just wanted to see it get made in the Appearance Section and no one would do it for us so I stepped up and got it done...
So, I'm looking for the experts to chime in here... Do you think it will actually help with aerodynamics? For pics check out the link in my sig (FYI, it is designed so that it does NOT block the opening under the bumper for the air dam)...
^^Oh, if anyone wants one I'll give LS1tech members a $25 discount off the shipped price. Wish I could offer a better price but ABS just went up 19% and this thing is HUGE (something like 6' x 4') so it takes a large sheet and is about $100 to ship not including packaging.
I'm really intrigued by 6LE's splitter and the possibility of it creating downforce. At some point, I want to do a lot of standing mile events with my car, and I'd like it to be really stable at high speed.
It doesn't look all that different from most functional spoilers I see. Maybe if it was angled down? Someone with more knowledge than I chime in please!
It doesn't look all that different from most functional spoilers I see. Maybe if it was angled down? Someone with more knowledge than I chime in please!
I'm really intrigued by 6LE's splitter and the possibility of it creating downforce. At some point, I want to do a lot of standing mile events with my car, and I'd like it to be really stable at high speed.
It doesn't look all that different from most functional spoilers I see. Maybe if it was angled down? Someone with more knowledge than I chime in please!
It doesn't look all that different from most functional spoilers I see. Maybe if it was angled down? Someone with more knowledge than I chime in please!
Again, others with more knowledge should chime in...
