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Old 04-15-2008, 08:36 PM
Nereth Nereth is offline
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Re: attn: resident aerodynamicist

Quote:
Originally Posted by slideways...
i mention vortex generators since by my understanding they allow the air to follow the shape of the car with less turbulence.
Vortex generators generally increase turbulance. Their advantage is that they delay flow seperation, thus they decrease drag if used in the right place.

Quote:
Originally Posted by slideways...
i kind of figure vortex generators help, but would a small lip spoiler (front or back) help or not? how about a splitter? side skirts? smooth undertray?
All of these help, if used correctly. They can all add downforce, they can all remove downforce, they can all add drag, and they can all remove drag.

Often adding downforce will add drag, mind you. Watch out for that.

One nice thing is that as you lower your car, you reduce the lift the basic shape makes and eventually it starts making downforce. Making downforce and making lift both cause drag, so you might think it is a compromise, but it doesn't have to be: If your car is currently making lift, and you drop it until it stops making lift, but doesn't start making drownforce, then you will effectively increase the load on the tyres while also reducing drag.

It will ruin your suspension geometry in most cases though, so I don't reccomend it unless you know what you are doing.
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