TRACKMAN2

driving at a track day this friday a was testing a theory that a wing will create the most downforce at 15 degrees of pitch. much higher than that and it will stall out and create more drag than downforce. a wing can produce downforce when piched up but acts like a spoiler deflectng the wind up causing downforce rather than "flying" to produce down force...... it was raining hard so when i set the wing flat i didnt notice any downforce... but i was only reaching top speeds of 118 mph.. i set the wing back to stock about 30 degrees.. igot my downforce back.. was i not reacing a speed where the wing could fly... or is a spoiler a better choice for downforce at slower speeds.. in the dry i will try this again and check lap times to see if what im feeling is more drag than downforce or if my wing dosent fly.....any ideas

John Shiels

my wing doesn't have any where near that much pitch. Have a picture of the wing in relationship to the car? What does the wing look like? If you look at the bottom of the wing after running in the rain you will see where the dirt trails stop on the wing. If the dirt trail is not going / following to the back edge of the wing it is stalling. Wing will give you more down-force than a spoiler. How are you measuring the angle of the wing?

TRACKMAN2

hold on i will look

TRACKMAN2

not a computer wiz i put the picture in my profile good idea about the dirt though.... pitch i am running an imaginary line from the center front of the wing through the flat portion of the wing and the angle is 0= level to ground

TLGunman

Engine assembly lube is another good way to check if the wing is flying, or stalled. Put some drops on the leading edge before you hit the track, and then look at the trails it leaves. Works on the car too, ie poor man's wind tunnel.

John Shiels

no side view pictures with the car level.