The carbon fibre time attack/superlap MX5 NB twins blog

[bruce]

You need to create an in-cabin adjustable rear wing. I wonder why someone hasn't done this before?

[Suspense]

They have, in the form of the DRS in F1!

[bruce]

Silly old me. I was going to question if F1 had done it!
You could do it with little electric motors, or just a bunch of cables and an adjuster (both a lot of work).

[lightyear]

I have thought about using boot or door solenoids. Or even the headlight motors. It can be done, but requires some time to make it all work. And i like doing things that dont take too much time for this car.

[hks_kansei]

Would there really be that much benefit to active aero on the car?

I'm just thinking that most sedan based racecars don't have active aero, it's only really F1 and maybe a few others, and they're developed to the point where they can afford to invest that amount of money into dropping 0.01secs off laptimes.

[16bit]

it exists.

http://aeromotions.com/news/

[Muzdaman]

Time Attack/Superlap cars run adjustable aero.

Im pretty sure they are linked to a G meter to adjust between cornering/straights.

[bigdog]

Cockpit adjustable aero is banned in most FIA sanctioned classes of motor sport because of the risk involved in unbalancing the car or creating lift inadvertently. Those rules date to the inception of wings on race cars in the 60s, so they probably need a rethink in today's computer dríven world.

[Apu]

Speaking of in-cabin controllable aero, I remember waaayyy back in the early 90s, Julian Edgar was working on a front splitter that could extend outwards using an in-cabin control. It was on a Liberty RS I think... Anyone old enough to remember this? I even remember it was a white one.

(my memory is usually not this good but I always promised myself I'd do something like this...one day)

[bruce]

One of the import 2 door 90s Skylines had a front splitter which moved electronically (DR30 Skylines?)

[lightyear]

Most active aero is banned. I think it is because if it fails you have a huge crash.

On another note, I went over the data from p.I.

Last time there I had mod class setup. Oem hardtop, small front splitter and flat boot lip spoiler. My end of straight speed with the fastback on was up 14km/h even with the dual element wing on( set at 0*.) and brendans top speed was up 12km/h. Mine is probably higher due to better corner speed on last corner. Last time there was a tail wind too. My turn one min was up 15 km/h to 176km/h. I was faster everywhere except turn 4. Brendans top speeds are very much the same as mine. Turn one he is doing 156km/h (20km/h slower), but he has old Porsche tyres, and no aero.

[lightyear]

Here is a link to the edited video from the morning at phillip island. It just has the bits to compare speeds to other cars. Thanks to Brendan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKFPqp0N ... re=g-all-u

[beavis]

I will endeavor to do a video comparing speeds through corners and down the straights to get some information on what the aero changes are doing.

Less drag (thanks to things like fastback) = improved top speed
More downforce/less lift (thanks to wings/splitters) = quicker corner speeds
More drag (due to wings) = hindered top speed

Would be good to use the video and GPS data to validate these theories and confirm that the changes made have done what we expect.

[lightyear]

Updating my sig laptimes twice in 6 days. That doesnt happen often.

I changed the muffler to a straight thru type, and put a cheap pod filter on. Total cost - $90. Net time gain 2 seconds. The car can do a 1:52 now. Just need to get one lap with no traffic. I did a 1:53.1 with a car holding me up at turn 10. We didnt get many laps as the day didnt run too well.

[beavis]

Fastest lap from the weekend.