Wing on the Exige fact or fiction

[carl]

Well so much for my experiment I did 4 or 5 laps with the wing on@BW #13 CW . then I took it off and on the second lap going around the left hander before magic mountain @ 90+ the car let go no twich no warning. I did a triple loop, didn't hurt anything but lots of dirt, i looked like a coal miner. We then put my wing on Brains car who was running 208s with no wing and he took 1s off right out of the block, I wont do that again .that's show biz! carl

[charliex]

off at magic mountain in an exige huh, that sounds terribly familiar

glad to hear you and the car is ok, now trust in lotus!

[vasracer]

i wonder what driving with the top off would do...

[Serebo1]

Well, this one will surely make the rounds in Atlanta and Hethel.

Ask Kimi Raikkonen what happens when you take the wing off...

Hockenheim - 2004

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With commentary:

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[carl]

Charlie, same place as yours i've gone through that turn 100s of times at a much faster pace. It happened in the middle of the turn no warning. how long did it take you to get rid of the dirt. carl

[JeffYoung]

No top -- more drag, slower.

[Vampyre]

Did you really think the wing was just a show piece?

[fishguy]

If lotus claimed it actually did create that amount of downforce(60 lbs is significant), I told you guys he should either take BOTH the splitter and the wing off, or leave BOTH on.
Carl, glad you just got dirty, and didnt get hurt, or damage the car.

[grappa]

What does the splitter actually do here ?

[Thomasio]

As I have been told, the splitter cleans up the airflow under the car to help create down force.

[elptex]

Good stuff.

[grappa]

What I mean is..what does the splitter actually do to the handling that both the wing and the splitter should be removed,not one or another.I thought that the splitter would create a little more oversteer,the wing more understeer,due to the resultant downforce. Did the wing removal loosen up the back that much or is there some synergy happening to suddenly get the car that loose ?

[elptex]

Primarily, front-end aerodynamics are molded so that air is flowing properly over the car. This means both in a way that reduces drag and in a way that focus the wind as best as possible to hit the rear wing in a way that produces downforce. The front splitter doesn't seemed to be designed in a way that focuses on providing front end downforce. Of course it does provide some, but its target goal is to "clean up" the air. The front end prepares the air for the rear end to use it beneficially.

[Bleu Omdurman]

ok, i'll explain

First, the balance between the two. Imagine your car is a long flat peice of wood, laying on top of two separated axles, that extends past those axles to the front and rear by about 2 feet. no bolts, no fasteners. when you put a 50lbs weight on the ends of that board it just makes the wheels hold more weight. when you remove the 50lb weight from the back, the board tips up off of the rear axle. But if you remove the front wieght too, you are back to a stable platform but just less weight on the wheels.

second, the benefit of a splitter. If it were a perfect physics sheet of graph paper, we would have a splitter that extends to the ground, perfectly and ends precisely at the tires ( i mean like air tight) then we would have"ground effects" or side rails that extend to the ground perfectly air tight, then we would have a rear diffuser that was the only escape for air. As we moved the car forward a "suction" effect would increase with vehicle speed. In addition, we have an effect of downforce because to some extent the splitter is also a wing (upside down of course)

That hopefully answers your question. if you feel like you want a longer more technically correct explaination of the principles of lift pm me. Or one of the many pilots on here. Downforce is all about making a smooth surface around which the top half has a more direct route across when compared to the bottom longer portion. This difference is one of the four factors that cause flight. In cars we turn the surface upside down and call it downforce.

[Bleu Omdurman]

Originally Posted by grappa

What I mean is..what does the splitter actually do to the handling that both the wing and the splitter should be removed,not one or another.I thought that the splitter would create a little more oversteer,the wing more understeer,due to the resultant downforce. Did the wing removal loosen up the back that much or is there some synergy happening to suddenly get the car that loose ?

ya your close. The splitter reduces understeer more than it increases oversteer.

[AZReason]

So what was the difference in top speed on the straight with and without wing. I already have the answer I want in the fact that the wing dropped lap times but I am curious abot max speed. Glad to hear you and your car are O.K. Thank you very much for sharing your experience.

[charliex]

carl, sorry to say but i'm still cleaning it out, it gets everywhere, the engine is the hardest to clean off, ac vents etc.

[AnsisK]

Originally Posted by Bleu Omdurman

second, the benefit of a splitter.

[...]

In addition, we have an effect of downforce because to some extent the splitter is also a wing (upside down of course)

This is not true for the splitter on the Exige, or most other closed-wheel racecar for that matter. It is however an upsidedown wing on older racecars, such as the Lotus 79.

The role of the common splitter is different than a smaller version of the wing in back. High-pressure air is created infront of a slab-nosed car when you drive it through air at high speeds. If you prevent that high-pressure from escaping under the car by placing a splitter in its way, you create downforce. It does not have to be shaped like a conventional lift-producing wing to produce any significant weight, it simply has to prevent air that would normally travel under the car from doing so.

[carl]

Originally Posted by Vampyre

Did you really think the wing was just a show piece?

I look at it as a science experiment that I wont do it again although I still think it looks better with out it. If I would have stayed with my plan to have Craig Stantion do the test he could have caught it. I need all the help I can get thats show biz..Kids don't try this at home! carl

[Dmbrown34]

Ok then...how much downforce does adding a wing put on the Elise?

If any at all!!