I have heard on many occations that the C2s front lifts at high speeds. What kind of testing did they have in the early 60s to test such things? Couldnt this problem if its true have been prevented while the car was in its design stage? Was the C1 more stable at high speeds? Anyone?

 

Who needs aerodynamic testing when the car looks sooo cool..

 

1. Yes, they do.

2. They drove the cars really fast.

3. See Hitch's answer in post #2.

4. I don't know.

 

No.1 Yes they lift under high speed. The reason they never changed it was because they loved the ugly shape they come up with LOL.
No.2 Pedal to the metal was how they found out !
No.3 Designers have a problem with reality. They are kind of like architects they build things around a visual look but in reality their end product doesn't work they are not engineers ! They couldn't swing a wrench to save themselves.
No4. The C1 would be more stable at high speeds I believe. It's a rounder slipperier shape.
No.5 Why you ask !
Stewy

 

Credit Bill Mitchell with the lift. He was warned by Pete Brock, a designer at GM who worked on the first renderings of the Stingray, of the potential aero problems presented by the front end. Brock went on to design the Cobra Daytona Coupes which, incidentally, did not lift at 190 mph.

Wally Wyss, who has written extensively on everything automotive, once said that while Shelby & Co. was pouring much of Ford's money into making the Cobra and Mustang more competitive and world beaters, "Mitchell was spending millions of dollars on James Bond type gadgets like revolving license plates"......

No argument on the Stingray design, though. It was one of a kind.

 

I'm still trying to find hints of Jaguar in the C2 ? Mitchell loved Jags and based the shape on a Jag. I don't recall the model xk 140 or the E type but bugger me I can't see any of them in a C2 ? Stewy

 

Testing? What Testing?? Ya get what ya get in the 60's (Less Attorneys and more Stylists at the Helm)

Enter the Corvair and Mr. Nader and now look at what ya got....

 

See if this helps ! Stewy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjwyUOq_goI

 

It looks like the windscreen of the C1 is the handbrake. The pop up lights on all the cars act as 2 small parachutes. You can see the C2 has a problem at the front he has to lift the wand high so we can see the smoke I wish he had dropped the wand lower in the middle I bet it would of went under the car ! How slippery are the C4,5,6's Stewy

 

When I first got my 65 with a 427 in it, I had to top end it later on. It ran out of steam from the lifters at 155mph. But it was glued to the road.

 

That's skooting along ! 155 mph in a non slippery car ! Stewy

 

Between 1957 and 1960, Larry Shinoda drawings and styling studio clays of fastback cars with fender humps and a beltline running all the way around the car were in development well in advance of the E-type's introduction.

The basic E shape was seen in the Jaguar D-type racing cars and the handful of XK-SS street and race roadsters of the late '50s, much as the public was teased by Chevy's Sting Ray dream/competition car.

Mitchell and other GM styling execs attended the Paris Auto Show in 1961. They caught a glimpse of the E-type coupe on set-up day, and gained access to the empty hall the night before the show opened.

Unbeknownst to the Jaguar people, the Chevy guys swarmed over what would be the star of the show, photographing and measuring everything, inside and out. They found the coupe to be too tight for people over 5'10" and noted the accelerator was positioned too far back, requiring even average sized men to bend their right leg in an uncomfortable position while driving.

Still, it was futuristic and elegant, and raised the stakes for the C1 replacement being readied for the 1963 model year. The Sting Ray would be larger inside and out, to accommodate American-sized people, but it was at least as good looking as the Jag, and offered many levels of performance and luxury through optional equipment. Early E-types were stick shift only, with just one 265 hp six-cylinder engine, and no power steering, A/C, etc. available.

Because of the "personal tailoring" made possible by the long Corvette option list, plus widely available, relatively inexpensive parts and service, C2s outsold E-types at least four-to-one over the production lives of the two cars, though the Jag was available for something like 14 years to the Sting Ray's five.

To this day, when polls are done and lists made of the best-styled and most desirable mass-produced cars, the top two positons are usually E-Jag/Sting Ray or vice versa. Four to five thousand dollars new, both cars are worth about ten times that amount in decent (not concours) condition today.

 

There is something about an e type ? Not sure why I like them nothing really stands out except for the oil leaks lol. The S/W with the knock of rims in silver is a very modern car compared to the english e type. Stewy

 

Before the smoke in the wind tunnel, auto makers would tape little strips of contrasting-color cloth (typically black strips on white) all over a car, then drive it on the test track with another car running alongside it, equipped with movie cameras.

Windows and tops would be lowered and raised to see what effect the changes would have on air flow. Early C1s with exhaust tips in the concave area between the rear fender tips and license frame had a problem with exhaust gases "hanging around" and staining the paint. Moving the tips outboard to the the bumpers on the fender tips and lengthening them slightly solved the problem.

 

I think a lot of the problem was the *butt low* stance. Simply getting the nose down a little helps a lot.

I've had mine well past the 160 mph mark many times and every time I run the 1/4 mile it's over 140 mph. Actually drives very stable on the top end.

JIM

 

Don't let anyone kid you, the early Vettes DO lift. My 56 is noticeably lighter more squirmy above 135!

Tom Parsons

 

Having had my '67 up to/above 120 mph a "few" times, I can tell you it definitely has major front end lift at those speeds. It actually lifts up on the front suspension, takes up most of the available travel, and gets both light on the steering and rough on the road feel/feedback.

You can see the center of the hood start to bulge up along the fender gaps due to the air pressure build up. I think I read someplace that is the reason why the original Grand Sports had those huge hood vents - not so much for engine cooling, but rather to release the trapped air pressure underneath! I remember a quote - I think it was from AJ Foyt -that the front wheels almost came off the ground at high speeds!

So, yeah, they definitely do lift in stock condition! There are available chin spoilers available aftermarket to deal with that, but anymore if I wanna go that fast I'll drive my C6!

 

What I am reading is that IF the C2 does lift at high speeds it apperas that two owners of BB Cars dont seem to have that problem. Since all early C2s were small blocks when they were tested ,Could the lift only be applyed to Small Block C2s? Would the heavier BB cars be more stable at high speeds?

 

They did the same thing in the wind tunnel - photo below is the full-size fiberglass styling model of the Corvette SS in the Lockheed tunnel in Marietta, Georgia, in December, 1956. This model was cut up after the tunnel tests and the skin ended up on the SS "mule" (the chassis of which later became Mitchell's Sting Ray).

 

Out there in cyberspace is chart showing the stats on all the generations of Corvette. I think it showed things like frontal area and either lift or downforce front and rear. Can't find it now but the midyears were the worst for front end lift according to it.