Sweet looking Coat hanger for the Boxster

[7th gear]

Originally Posted by boggtown

Its not so much height that makes a spoiler work well, its angle of attack, shape, ect... As stated, I guess there is some height requirement or limit to make it track legal, I dont know which though. They probably dont want people not being able to see out of the rear because the wings in the way, so they make a height limit.

i've heard that a real spoiler can be controlled by the driver. something about variations in wind, direction, drag ...etc. can anyone confirm?

Uhhhh... I dont think so. F1 racers have adjustable wings, but they adjust it by putting in a hex key or something and turning it 3 rotations to make it 1/2 a degree difference. Are you talking about motorized wings or something? The one on ebay has different settings, so does the factory gt3 wing, and some others.

[Grizzly]

Originally Posted by djomlas

funny thing is that im wearing a members only track jacket now

...And listening to his K.C. And The Sunshine Band 8 track...

[7th gear]

Originally Posted by boggtown

....Are you talking about motorized wings or something?.........

no.

i'd heard it was a cable controlled lever mounted so the driver could adjust the angle of the wing up or down and control his trip real-time. he'd adjust it, maybe on a straight-away, and lock it down until his next adjustment time?!?!?

when i heard about it, i thought that driver really knows his car to want to do that all thru his race. to me, i thought spoilers were only to keep the rear section of the car down so that air rushing under the car wouldn't compromise the rear tire road contact; sort of keep 'em gripping.

maybe the guy i heard if from was mistaken.

Ya, they are made to give better contact at high speeds on the rear, but they are most effective with a front spoiler to keep the entire car either neutral weight or heavier (relative weight, lbs of downforce) at high speeds. Thats why you see all those front lip spoilers for sale too. F1 cars do about 3 g's around turns due to the combination of spoilers, body design, and tires. It simulates the car weighing like 4 thousand pounds at speed when in reality it doesnt (less inertia, but more "mass"), thus it can go around a turn faster. Fc=(mv^2)/(r). The more mass, the faster you can go around a turn. Which is why you could probably go around a corner in an F1 car at 20 mph and live, and at 200 mph and live, but if you only go 70 you might not have enough downforce to keep you on the road. Its crazy stuff like that that makes you tune specifacally to your car or the track.

[Ronzi]

Originally Posted by 7th gear

i've heard that a real spoiler can be controlled by the driver. something about variations in wind, direction, drag ...etc. can anyone confirm?

Every racing organization that I know of has banned the use of wings that can be adjusted on-track, whether by the driver, or by computer, whatever.
The wings used by Jim Hall on the Chaparral cars in the '60's initially were controlled by the driver. The back edge tilted up on braking, and then levelled out when the driver came off the brakes. I think it took about one race meeting before SCCA banned moveable wings.
Hall was one of the true innovators in motorsport, regardless of whether May had a virtually identical wing design several years earlier. May's wing was immediately banned, too, for "safety" reasons, the claim being that it interfered with the vision of following drivers, and was a distraction.