I made front tire spats for my NB. I wanted to see if covering more of the front tire would reduce drag. I don't run a splitter.
I took a trip to Miami with them on, and took them off for the return trip home. Each drive began with a full tank. The drive with the spats on cost me 1.5mpg, and the front end tended to yaw more. Interestingly enough, I did notice a change in wind noise by the A pillar. It seemed quieter.

Being that spats are pretty much a flat wall for air to move around, they're not very efficient. If you're looking for downforce, it can be implemented well into a splitter to cause the air to stagnate and produce more pressure on the corners of your splitter, but I wouldn't use large ones.

 

I'd hardly call this a scientific test to base any conclusions on. You need to drive the exact same road to have any meaningful result (and the same highway in reverse doesn't count)

 

Class rules likely don't permit a larger front splitter in Tims case.
The Australian (CAMS) regulations for a lot of sports car categories are painfully archaic and reward the cashed up engine builders more than any kind of home ingenuity/diy aero work.

 

Vintage, I appreciate your efforts but there are too many variables unaccounted for in your test. Not the least of which would be direction and speed of prevailing winds on both trips. Being in Florida we commonly have a seven to ten mile an hour breeze and directions and intensities change as the afternoon seabreeze interacts with the prevailing winds.

 

 

How steep is the angle on the splitter tunnels?

 

Probably 15-18*

 

Since I in the middle of nowhere my material selection is kinda limited. I have found no honeycomb panels but I did find this aluminum/plastic/aluminum sandwich panel. it is RIGID and I suspect it will stand up to both the elements and track abuse. But how heavy are the plywood splitters so I have some kind of a reference point?

 

^ I would not use DiBond for a splitter.

 

just out of curiousity. why? a little reasoning helps get my mind off it

 

Agreed. Weaker and far heavier than Alumalite. Probably about the same yield and modulus as birch but twice as heavy. I bought a small sheet of dibond to experiment with and... jeebus it's dense.

There are sign supply companies that will ship Alumalite. One option for folks not near major urban areas is to see if any other local racers want to share shipping costs for a few 4x8's of 10mm for splitters.

 

Yeah. Dibond us great for certain things, but not a splitter. It will deform. You want alumalite. Generally, the type of store that sells Dibond sells or can get you alumalite.

 

thanks for the explanation. I knew it was on the heavier side which is why I asked about the plywood splitters.

But I'm in Iceland so shipping for something like this will be ridiculous. I'll keep looking for suitable materials.

 

I assume plywood is not too hard to come by in Iceland, so why not use that?

 

It'll be a last resort. Very wet weathers here have me leaning on synthetic materials. But I'll go that route if I must

 

Paint/seal it.

 

I set out to try and build a compendium of such information a while back it has been viewed but only commented on by me. See here
It seems that Young Modulus is hard to come by for most materials so it is always worth asking. Emilio, Ryan and Moti have experimented so much you can almost guarantee they have tried it.

 

I saw that post and moved it the aero sub forum a few weeks ago. Thanks for the contribution.

 

RRJWilson that list is well appreciated. poscat

 

I'm thinking lot's of boats up there?
Boat plywood impregnated with epoxy resin is super tough, and resists weather very well.