This may have been done before - I know Keith had indicated he was going to try it, but I think he gave up...?

Anyway, I can now verify that YES - this CAN be done. It is possible to convert a Nascar COT Show wing to work on a race car, and it is safe to at least 130mph and probably a lot faster, judging from my experience today.

Like all my ghetto work (see Tupperware airbox for example), it isn't pretty or perfect. But it works. I took 2.5 seconds off my PB at Sydney Motorsport Park GP circuit today and set a new class lap record by a full second, and all this on R spec semi slicks (class rules allow slicks). The wing works, and bloody well.

so... Pics are in order.

I started with this cheap and nasty COT show wing. I cut the stupid "left turn only" end plates off:







What I had was 1400mm (56") wide:


View inside the wing - it's just a CF shell but quite strong:


This pic shows the way the mounts are fibreglassed into the wing - weak... But it's a show wing after all...


Mucho 4.8mm alloy rivets added to reinforce each mount:




Time for some surfboarding. Hardwood strips for laminating a foam core:




They run the full length of the wing:




I'm sure you can buy this stuff, or something better, at Home Depot racing. For the Aussies, this came from Bunnings:

 

Bloody messy job. I used rubber hose on the end of the nozzle to get it right inside the wing. Fill the centre section first, then the front and rear - otherwise your spars will press out of place:


For end plates - I ended up both screwing and Sikaflexing these in place, and used 4 screws per mount in the end to make sure they would hold:






6mm Rivnuts:


Alucobond end plates - had some scrap lying around from a trailer build a few years ago:


Endplates fitted. I ended up Sikaflexing the endplates on, as well as using 6mm hardware, after a friend of mine lost an end plate off of his wing last year... Can't be too careful at 120+mph




Sizing up some class-legal mounts (using scrap plywood to get the wing in the right spot):




Rolled 8mm alloy mounts - similar to FM design:


Bottlescrew AoA adjustment:


Maximum sized front splitter allowable under class rules - to try and balance the wing:


Ended up at around 1 degree AoA. Phenomenal speed. Still working on low vs. high speed balance but it is clear we are on a winner.

 

Nice work!

 

nice job!

 

I can't imagine who that might have been .... .

.Impressive! SMP GP is pretty fast, and good DF is available by virtue of the speed. Low AoA keeps drag to a minimum, and that combination seems to work well for you. I will be interested to see what you end up with at SMP South circuit, which is at the other end of the spectrum of speed and will certainly require more AoA (car balance permitting). T2 and the hairpin would be the slowest parts of the GP circuit, how did you feel the aero worked there?

Well done, both in the build and putting it to work!!

 

T2 and T8 were dicey until tyre temps came up, but that's normal. The front splitter was quite effective at most speeds in balancing the wing out at that shallow AoA angle, but as usual with my car, under steer on cold tyres was evident.

if I want to run more AoA, I'm going to have to get more aggressive with my front air dam. Maybe give the Crusher front another try, this time with a front lip (more like Ryan's car). Stop gap solution will be to add some canards to the existing front...

 

What's the chord length on one of these wings?

 

That looks really good. Nice work.

 

Nice job, that's making lemonade from lemons!

10"