Radical Ready For Donnington - Fingers Crossed For a Dry Day
Discussion
Hi Scott
The handle on the tail section is a very neat idea - I can just about manage the nose section on my own, but with the tail its almost impossible to simultaneously unhook the lip at the forward edge and disengage the pins at the rear. I'm thinking I might achieve the same effect as the handle by cutting a slot in the bodywork, about 30mm x 100mm; enough to get 4 fingers in, to lift the tail off, maybe.
My car, chassis number 033, originally had no rear diffuser. I fitted one last year, between a test day and a race day at Silverstone and made 1.5 seconds improvement in lap times, so they do have a beneficial effect. Some of the improvement will come from eliminating the drag-producing turbulence within the engine bay (hence greater straight line speed) and some from the down-force created by the low pressure region that is developed forward of the diffuser, as in the throat of a venturi (hence greater cornering speed).
As I understand it, increasing the rake angle (lower at the front, higher at the back) also tends to increase the downforce, in conjunction with moving the centre of pressure forward (since the 'throat' of the venturi is moved forward).
Has anyone played with rake angles to gauge the effect on high speed balance?
Cheers
Laurence
The handle on the tail section is a very neat idea - I can just about manage the nose section on my own, but with the tail its almost impossible to simultaneously unhook the lip at the forward edge and disengage the pins at the rear. I'm thinking I might achieve the same effect as the handle by cutting a slot in the bodywork, about 30mm x 100mm; enough to get 4 fingers in, to lift the tail off, maybe.
My car, chassis number 033, originally had no rear diffuser. I fitted one last year, between a test day and a race day at Silverstone and made 1.5 seconds improvement in lap times, so they do have a beneficial effect. Some of the improvement will come from eliminating the drag-producing turbulence within the engine bay (hence greater straight line speed) and some from the down-force created by the low pressure region that is developed forward of the diffuser, as in the throat of a venturi (hence greater cornering speed).
As I understand it, increasing the rake angle (lower at the front, higher at the back) also tends to increase the downforce, in conjunction with moving the centre of pressure forward (since the 'throat' of the venturi is moved forward).
Has anyone played with rake angles to gauge the effect on high speed balance?
Cheers
Laurence
Hi L
The way i take the rear of is now with the prosport i use the wing, when i had the clubsport a rope or strap around the the air intake and lift, the front a complete pain in the arse if my arms were a couple of inches longer i could reach each wheel arch normally lots of swearing and the sound of cracking fibreglass, very neat idea with the handle on the front body work.
The way i take the rear of is now with the prosport i use the wing, when i had the clubsport a rope or strap around the the air intake and lift, the front a complete pain in the arse if my arms were a couple of inches longer i could reach each wheel arch normally lots of swearing and the sound of cracking fibreglass, very neat idea with the handle on the front body work.
ScottHughes said:
I maybe looking to get a rear difuser these were not fitted to the early clubsports this is chassis 004!
Yes I know, mine is number 006 (found on ebay). I recently managed to get some front quadrants and a second hand rear undertray/diffuser for mine. I also got a "high downforce" front splitter and diveplanes from www.westgarage.co.uk (minitici) for a very reasonable price.Edited by SportsLibre on Wednesday 16th January 23:47
SportsLibre said:
so how did you get on?
Well it was wet and hence I got wet feet... but apart from that the car went well and didn't miss a beat all day.. I dropped 8 seconds off my lap time over the day.. although I think drying conditions also helped. I had to adjust the brake bias as I had no braking on the rear to start with, but that was quite easy using the balance bar. I also softened all the shocks off. I now have a list of things to do before the next outing.. hopefully in the dry this time!Gassing Station | Radical | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff