hingstonwm

iTrader: (2)

The top opening of the air dam is even with the top of the stock radiator opening so I really don't want to lower it any further. This air dam is really thin so it is super flexible, I used the chin spoiler as a mount for the bottom of the air dam. If you look closely, in one of the pics, you can see the diamond plate that I used to anchor the bottom of the air dam. It is pop rivitted inside the bottom lip of the air dam and zused to the chin spoiler. I used diamond plate because I wanted a very sturdy mount for the bottom of the air dam. The radiator that came with the car is a dual pass afco; smaller than stock, so I had to do a bunch of ducting to seal it up, hopefully the ducting and coolant reroute will be effective, in the thin air of Colorado
I do plan on putting a rubber skirt on the bottom of the air dam. Just haven't done it yet. One of my design considerations was that I needed to be able to remove the air dam quickly so I cnl load the car; still on an open trailer at this time. I can remove the air dam in approx 2 minutes.
That is a clever idea, however, I don't want to create to much down force up front, because I can't utilize a rear wing to balance the car. Also, I have approx 155hp, no ponies to overcome traction enhancing down force.

Good feedback!!

lightyear

Dollars spent: $40
Hours spent: 2
How effective: 2
0=slower, 1, no improvement, 2 =slightly better,3= big improvement
Materials used: alloy square tube and alucobond
URL, brand name, material type
Size/thickness of materials: 3mm
.060", 3/16" etc
Bracket location: engine subframe, and front chassis rails
Tracks tested on: sandown
Race/TT class built for: sprints

Had a friend come around to make a new splitter airdam for his car, and i decided to spend an hour re-making one for my car. It had a carbon fibre g.v lip on there already, and i just bolted 2 alloy square tubes from the subframe and made a bracket to hold the front of the tube. Sits 20mm below the subframe, and 20mm below the g.v lip. To this i riveted the alucobond 3mm sheet on. And covered the whole thing with a roll of race tape. Took it to the local track, and it has slight oversteer on the fast corners, and lots of oversteer on the slow corners. (oversteer could be due to 2 year old tyres, just bought a new set and will be trying them out this weekend at the same track) Also made some cannards to block the air hitting the front tyres.


This is a work in progress-

lightyear

And this is the splitter/undertay. I had it supported by the 2 nuts in the subframe (usually put a rivnut in the centre hole between the 2 other nuts that are there oem) and about 8 rivnuts in the c.f g.v lip. There was enough suction pressure to bend it up like a banana as it failed at about 170km/h. So it is important to fabricate soething that will hold it in place. If it had of come off competely just before turn one and gone under the tyres.... Well you know.



I jumped on it and bent it back to a flat shape and re-used it.

You can see how much tape is on there in this pic. It was a quick rush job..

mx5-kiwi

Lightyear, how did you make the canards, what are the made of and how do they attach if you don't mind?

lightyear

They are made from the same alloy/plastic cored sheet. Just made a template from cardboard, cut them out, and riveted them to the bumper via small alloy "L" brackets. You can bend the alloy/plastic fairly easy. And it will bend to 90 degrees, as long as you give it a radius.

lightyear

I made a rear spoiler to help the air seperate from the car. It is made of some old coreflute, and race tape. Cost $2.
Took me less than an hour to do, no tape measure was used, just looked at it and cut some coreflute, stuck it on and trimmed it to suit. I have data from 2 weeks ago at sandown, so i want to see if this helps my top speed. Top speed last time was just under 180km/h. 112mp/h.



Also cut some triangle pices for under the back to support it. Stuck on with race tape.

mx5-kiwi

Cool, I mentioned in another thread recently how most race cars seem to have an additional spoiler / wickerbil / duck tail when running wings on the boot area and was intrigued why no one here has tried it. Although they seem to have a bit more vertical area to them (from memory) than this one.

Can't wait to see if it makes any or what difference.....Your a bloody clever chap with your constructions, thats for sure!

lightyear

I have lots of ideas, but unforunately no time. Also don't want to spend too much time and money on this car - Be better to spend time and money on the carbon fibre car. Not worried about how dodgy this car looks, puts the competition off, lol.

lightyear

Not sure on how the aero at the back of the car worked, as i replaced the old kumhos with new nittos. I did go almost 3 seconds quicker at the same track from 2 weeks earlier. How much is due to tires? It is like 2 drag strips at that track, with some corners at the ends. I should have taken the aero off on the day to get some real data. The data from 2 weeks ago is on soemone elses computer, so once i get that, i can see where the 3 seconds came from. I think with some v.g's the aero at the back will work better. I am going back there again in a few weeks and will try some different aero thru the day.
Vid of before and after aero mods (with new tires too..)

triple88a

iTrader: (2)

Someone have the Porsche Moby Dick in mind?

motormechanic

iTrader: (1)

You have a keen eye. Race cars usually have wings that are at roof level or above for clean air. There is still air however that is flowing along the shape of the car. Running an additional spoiler helps the aerodynamics of the car's original shape sans the large wing. They are used to reduce the drag working on the rear vertical parts of the car.

1BAD96

iTrader: (5)

Dollars spent: Splitter $160ish ($100 for a 4x8 sheet, enough for 2 splitters), Wing LOTS of $
Hours spent: 2hrs splitter, 10hrs wing
How effective:
0=slower, 1, no improvement, 2 =slightly better,3= big improvement: (will find out)
Materials used: Aluma-lite, Carbonfiber
URL, brand name, material type: Kognition rear wing
Size/thickness of materials: 3/8 i believe for the splitter
.060", 3/16" etc
Bracket location: 2 stock k member locations, 2 custom brackets from frame, 2 support rods front, 2 support rods inside
Tracks tested on: None yet, Autobahn in 2 weeks
Race/TT class built for: SPO

Yes,yes, tires will catch lots of air i know. I ran out of time being at school! Rebuilding the car was enough!

Handy Man

Ooooo... Nice wing!

motormechanic

iTrader: (1)

wow...first time i've seen a kognition wing on a miata!

lightyear

I made a quick fastback from the plastic alloy composite material. Took about 1.5hrs to come up with the design, cut it out and bend it. I was goin to pull some cloth over the back of the car and saturate it in resin to ake it stiff, but this was easier and quicker. It is just a test piece to see how the aero is working. I will do some runs with wool tufts.






I have a spare hood and will put some vents in to see how that changes things too. So once i have done a couple of sessions i will take off the fastback and put some more wool tufts on to see the difference. Then take off more aero to get some comparisons.

nitrodann

AWESOME!

Dann

mikaelhgn

iTrader: (1)

dood im stealing ur design just to let u know that is the 2hit, put on for track-take off fo street..............sweeeeet

Handy Man

Looks good. How are you attaching it?

ZX-Tex

iTrader: (15)

Damn it, I was just about to do that very thing. I have been thinking about trying it for months now though I was considering polycarbonate. Awesome, looks even better than I expected.

Also LOL at the stretched cloth idea. I had been thinking about trying that as well.

vehicular

iTrader: (3)

That looks great! You're going to have to make a digital pattern for the rest of us bums to copy!