This is for all of you low profile guys

[Jimjific 23]

Pak,

 

About the spoilers being functional. They are two flimsy and don't have a good enough airfoil design to provide any real down force on their own. So the only thing that it could be responsible for is disrupting the air flow over the car. One, this only helps at speeds that most of us aren't cornering at and two, the effectiveness for "spoiling" the air at a location right before the duck tail is very questionable. A third point would be that if it was effective, it create more drag and hurt your top speed.

 

But, I understand that people dig them, I'm just not one of them. Believe me though, I am not a "form follows function" purist. I love the fake scoops on quarter panels, although it would be cool to make them functional.

 

Do you have a thread on how you made you hood scoop functional?

 

Jim

[Pakrat 1,043]

Pak,

 

About the spoilers being functional. They are two flimsy and don't have a good enough airfoil design to provide any real down force on their own. So the only thing that it could be responsible for is disrupting the air flow over the car. One, this only helps at speeds that most of us aren't cornering at and two, the effectiveness for "spoiling" the air at a location right before the duck tail is very questionable. A third point would be that if it was effective, it create more drag and hurt your top speed.

 

But, I understand that people dig them, I'm just not one of them. Believe me though, I am not a "form follows function" purist. I love the fake scoops on quarter panels, although it would be cool to make them functional.

 

Do you have a thread on how you made you hood scoop functional?

 

Jim

 

I guess if you have the angle adjusted the way it looks best on the car like most people do then I would tend to agree more but it is that angle that removes the functionality, not the spoiler design itself. Look at any vintage Trans Am cars pics and note how they all tip the front down. I am pretty sure non functional equipment was not allowed on these cars and if removing it gave an advantage over having it I'd think many cars would have ommited them. http://www.historictransam.com/Drivers/DanLipetz.html

 

I'm sure there is a thread somewhere on my functional scoop (5-6 years now I think), I'll see if I can dig it up.

[Powershift 19]

I guess if you have the angle adjusted the way it looks best on the car like most people do then I would tend to agree more but it is that angle that removes the functionality, not the spoiler design itself. Look at any vintage Trans Am cars pics and note how they all tip the front down. I am pretty sure non functional equipment was not allowed on these cars and if removing it gave an advantage over having it I'd think many cars would have ommited them. http://www.historictransam.com/Drivers/DanLipetz.html

 

I angled the wing's front edge down too, just as the vintage Trans Am race cars ran/run them.

 

Edited April 2, 2012 by Powershift

[Jimjific 23]

Cool web link on the trans-Am series. To me it is the coolest racing series that existed. I used to have a great video of Parnelli Jones making a pass off the track. I've always wanted to make a Cougar T/A tribute car. They look pretty bad-ass.

 

You can see the series starting to get ruined by 70 as fender flares start to appear. I wonder why The Camaro was aloud to have them?

 

Back to the spoiler. It is interesting that they didn't use them in 69 but then did in 70. It might be ford was trying something out to see if it helped. It would be interesting to hear the drivers of that era discuss it. But they were hitting corners at 100mph which would be when a spoiler might start to help. Something most of us aren't doing.

 

Jim