Downforce....a case study?

Swoop411 · 03-12-06, 04:31

On the way home from a day of fishing yesterday evening I was going down the interstate and noticed in my rearview an older neon that just didnt look right. As it passed me I noticed a huge spoiler on the back of it. Now I know you are all saying...ricer or whatever. Well, I decide to follow this guy because I was thinking either A. its the downforce shoving the rear of the car down or B. alot of audio equipment. As we go down the ramp the back of the car slowly rises and at traffic light when he stopped the car was again at normal height! This wasnt the normal height spoiler mind you...it was at least 4 inches above the roofline of the car. I am used to seeing them 8 inches or so off the trunk...but not protruding above the roofline. It looked like one off of one of those SCCA pro race cars. I bet it would be fun to have it produce that much downforce on the rear of a neon....you could bust the front tires loose at 100 if you felt like it! I was tempted to adjust it the opposite direction and follow him to see if it lifted the rear of the car off the ground. Now on the SCCA cars and other stock class racecars do they beef up the trunk lid or it is physically attached to the chassis somehow? Someone told me how much downforce the Formula 1 cars had and that if they made a ramp that went to the ceiling they could actually drive the cars upside down. Sorry for the long post.....that was just a funny and interesting thing to see is all. Anyone else seen something like this?

Neothin · 03-12-06, 05:00

i doubt that the wing was causing enough downforce to actually cause the springs to compress. Even at 75, not enough air is flowing to really do much. Besides, do you think that these APC wings were wind tunneled (aka, do they really cause a high and low pressure area to create downforce)?

Swoop411 · 03-12-06, 05:08

It wasnt the APC wing....it was taller! I swear it was higher than the roof. The only thing I could figure is that his springs and struts are shot since it was one of the 90's model Neon's.

Tasty · 03-12-06, 05:42

Hopefully he was on his way to drive it off of a cliff.

truzoom · 03-12-06, 07:16

So you are saying that as you followed him, his rear end seemed to be closer to the ground than normal, but when he stopped it returned back to regular height?

Beats me, maybe having the spoiler that high actually does something, but even then it's just going to screw up his traction because he has FWD........I think that's right?...

I can't believe people still try to imitate this whole 'tuner fad'.... And apparently the new Fast and Furious will involve drifting, so expect lots of unexpected crashes at traffic intersections and cliffside roads!

Swoop411 · 03-13-06, 02:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by truzoom

So you are saying that as you followed him, his rear end seemed to be closer to the ground than normal, but when he stopped it returned back to regular height?

Beats me, maybe having the spoiler that high actually does something, but even then it's just going to screw up his traction because he has FWD........I think that's right?...

I can't believe people still try to imitate this whole 'tuner fad'.... And apparently the new Fast and Furious will involve drifting, so expect lots of unexpected crashes at traffic intersections and cliffside roads!

That is exactly what Im saying. I cant say anything about the drifters because years ago I got into that! I was stationed in Japan and had a friend take me out one night and I was hooked. I built me a drift car when I got back to the US but didnt drift where there were any people around. Speaking of FWD cars and drifting......saw some crazy kids in the Wal Mart parking lot a couple months ago drifting their FWD cars! I drove into the parking lot because I couldnt figure it out and it was then that I saw how they were doing it, fast food trays. They drove the back tires onto trays from McDonalds and then just went crazy sliding the back of the car around until the plastic ground away. It was funny!