throwit

I think they may be against some rule in SCCA, but as far as NASA goes, very few vette racers actually use canards...and I have always wondered why, since they seem to provide pretty good benefits in theory...

Are they against the rules? Do they not work? Is what they do negligible?

What am I missing here?

SouthernSon

Good question. I haven't seen very many at all at the weekend HPDE's but I am entertaining the idea myself.

AU N EGL

Canards produce more down force. For fast cornering short tracks that may be a good idea. But long high speed tracks, too much downforce slows the car down.

redtopz

Hmmm, so if you get the right size and angle canards you might be able to just run canards instead of a splitter/undertray? I could probably fab up and attach some canards myself for $40 in materials... I'm sure the splitter/undertray produces better aerodynamics, but for just a little front downforce maybe canards are a cheap/easy solution.

varkwso

I have seen a few setup from MTI with canards.

davidfarmer

they don't always work....in many cases, vertical flaps in front of the front tires are more effective. Race Care Engineering did a comparison a few years back, and they don't work as well as intuition would suggest in most cases.

J.R.

Search past Race Car Engineering article as per David. They give you pretty exact numbers.

The drag to downforce coefficient is not as productive. i.e a lot more drag as to down force as compared to a splitter. Some of the European touring cars on short tracks and high HP run these regularly.

SIK02SS

Also, the Professional cars that do use them, have wind tunnel testing as opposed to guessing and bolting them on as most people do who have them

throwit

Not sure if I did, or how I could have, but I am not inferring that canards be used in place of a splitter...I mean as an addition.

I thought the bigger reason for the canards (instead of creating downforce) was to direct air away from the lower side/body/wheels of the car and up to the outer edges of the rear wing...whereby making the wing more effective and reducing the drag on the wheels/wheel wells and possibly even under the car.

Is that all just a load of crap?

throwit

Would running those same vertical flaps over the rear tires also help as well? or has the air already been deflected upwards at that point?

throwit

Reese's world challenge C5 is the only one I can think of...which is why I posted this...figured they would be more common place.

AU N EGL

Carnards do not replace the splitter

L98Terror

What I read is they are very hard to get right and guessing is a bad idea

AU N EGL

Wind tunnel test time. and $$$$$

Aerodynamics set up incorrectly will cost more and slow the car down vs help.

wallyman424

So for DTM cars, the main purpose of canards may be to provide more downforce, but for us (and most other GT racecars), canards have a dual purpose. Yes, they may provide more downforce, however when done correctly they disrupt the airflow on the side of the car, REDUCING drag caused by the wheels/wheelwells. Anectodally, this has shown some pretty tangible benefits for people I know that club race.

For the vette though, its a whole lot easier just to put a flap in the leading edge of the wheel well for the same effect.

0RAAMaudio

I guesstimated where to put some on my FWD TT car just to see what would happen and the car was faster into the corners, mid turn and more grip on exiting them, at least by my butt dyno Actually the car was more stable under braking as well in the front but the rear wanted to start locking up, I have to take some rear brake bias out to compensate.

0Anthony @ LGMotorsports

We had them on our 2004 W.C. C5 because the car needed more front downforce, in addition to the splitter and hood.



I believe they were out-lawed in season's after that. I would say most of it is rules on why you do not see them more on the cars.

flink

Yes, the story I've heard is that they produce vortices down the sides of the car and this helps prevent air from entering under the car, which would reduce the low pressure zone under the car.

That's complex stuff and making it effective without CFD and wind tunnel testing isn't practical.

In terms of downforce, I think they're just baffles rather than airfoils, so they will have a poor downforce-to-drag ratio.

And they look dorky

The Panther

Because anything with the word nard in it makes us laugh

cire96

He's right!