Aero comparisons....

[NZGTRA17]

I guess at the end of the day it takes extra horsepower to push a car along that has a lot of downforce (i.e. Panoz's experience with testing with and without the wing). I expect that with the low hp that most of our cars have, we may find extra front and rear downforce will slow them down due to reduced straight line speed. You dont get anything for nothing in this life...........

I presume that Panoz did not make the rear wing really effective for 2 reasons; 1 - it would have slowed the car down in low hp appplications (as sold) 2 - without a front splitter the car would not have been aerodynamically balanced front to rear.

While it is really tempting to modify both areas of the car, I am going to do some track testing to determine the best configuration for my application. As I am primarily building my car to suit endurance racing, I want as little drag on the car as possible. Having said that, if it is a wet race, having the option of dialing in additional downforce is appealing.

I am leaning towards having a removable splitter section on the front so that the splitter area can be changed if desired and raising the wing but also making the angle of attack adjustable so that downforce can be varied.

[Gatorac]

This discussion has me confused. I am conviced by the feel of my car that it makes good down force. I spend most of my track time at Sebring which has 3 high speed turns. I catch faster cars in those turns all the time. The car feels very stable in turns 1, Bishops Bend and 17. Yet, I struggle for grip in the slow corners like 7 and especially 16.

[RacingIsLife]

the panoz designers told me that the wing was taken down and out of the airstream in order to move it out of the way so that backing the rear of the car into a tire wall would not do too much damage. this was done to keep maintenance costs on the school / spec cars down.

Panozracing and I designed new wing supports that move the wing up and back, into the airstream, and we have found that in "seat of the pants" measurements it produces much more downforce. With the old wing location, changing the angle didn't seem to do much, but with the wing in the airstream, minor adjustments make a noticable difference.

We did this mod in addition to adding a splitter.

[Cobra4B]

^ Pics of splitter and modified wing supports?

[eric1h]

Here is what Panoz26 and I are doing with ours, I may move it just a little higher and farther back.
I may be able to cut an extra set or two when i get it all dialed in if anyone wants a set. They will all be waterjet cut on 6061 aluminum.



Also have the basic splitter design ready, going to start mounting it this week...




very early inthe design and prototype phase.
Think the cardboard will hold up?

I'll be using 1/4" ABS and 1/4" alumalite which should make it light and very strong.


The splitter will extend all the way back to the rear axle and seal off the entire underside of the car, working on a way to make sure the tranny gets some proper venting also....

[Squerly]

Here I am, sitting at work looking at your design and wondering what kind of job does this guy have that allows him so much time to play with his car??? Maybe I should have chosen more wisely during career day.

But seriously, how are you coming up with the degree your applying to your wing strut?

[eric1h]

Originally Posted by Squerly

Here I am, sitting at work looking at your design and wondering what kind of job does this guy have that allows him so much time to play with his car??? Maybe I should have chosen more wisely during career day.

But seriously, how are you coming up with the degree your applying to your wing strut?

LOL

The degree of angle is based on the 2D aero simulations i did that seemed to provide the most DF with the least amount of drag, I built the modeling to scale its fairly easy to figure out the angle.

and some of it started out as......"hmm, how about right here!" ;-)

[Cobra4B]

I'd buy a set of those wing supports for sure. As for the front splitter... well looks like the plastic car noses are a bit different than the glass ones. Mines a constant arc accross the front... not like yours.

[Panoz26]

Originally Posted by Squerly

Here I am, sitting at work looking at your design and wondering what kind of job does this guy have that allows him so much time to play with his car??? Maybe I should have chosen more wisely during career day.

But seriously, how are you coming up with the degree your applying to your wing strut?

HAHAHAHAHA --- wait --- HAAHAHAHAHA -- wait -- HAHAHAHA
We ask him that everyday - he works like 2hrs 3 days a week ..... it's what some of would call a cush job......

[Gatorac]

Here's a pic of the Panoz Trans-am car Tiny spoke about. Boris Said won the 2002 Trans-am championship in a Panoz.

[g8rbob]

I like this Aero set-up: Fastback, Ducktail and Wing combination

[Gatorac]

If you've been following the ALMS at all you know that since they have made those body changes, that car is very competitive. They finished 4th at Laguna Seca last weekend. If they were running Michelin's, I believe they would be at the front. It's an American team, car and drivers too. A rare bird in Sports car racing right now.

[RacingIsLife]

My brother (panozracing) and I worked with the Panoz engineer to develop these wing supports. Our supports locate the rear wing in the SAME location as the ALMS car. We can have these cut for anyone that wants a pair for $125 each ($250 for the pair) plus shipping.

As for the splitter, it bolts (or rivets) to the kydex and the existing underpan. Ours only extends to the back of the existing pan. We can have these made for anyone that wants one, but we dont have a price yet.

We have had great results with this combination. I also recommend more horsepower and bigger tires all around!

[Cobra4B]

Awesome... would like to see pics of the front splitter up on the lift whenever you can.

[panozracing]

Originally Posted by Cobra4B

Awesome... would like to see pics of the front splitter up on the lift whenever you can.

So would I.....

at NASA nationals we crashed into each other and ripped the nose off the front of the black/silver car..... need to get it fixed and rolling!
http://www.catesracing.com/flp/pictu...G_055.JPG.html


watch...... not our best performance...actually our worst....
http://drivenasa.com/championships/2008-STU_SU.html

the vette shut the door on me pretty hard....but thats racing!