front downforce
Joined: Mar 2001
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Don't know if this helps to answer your question but ...........
In the late 60's, early 70's, a test was conducted using a Camaro. They tried different combinations of no spoilers, front only, rear only, both. It was NOT a convertible so take it with a grain of salt.
The front spoiler was a big "cow catcher" type of thing. The rear one was a large flat piece angled back and up about 45 degrees. They had measuring devices at all four wheels to determine how much spring compression there was. The car was driven at well over 100 mph.
The "naked" car was used as a baseline.
With both front and rear spoilers, they measured a slight increase all around.
With only rear spoiler, the car actually "lifted" because it pushed the back down initially and thus raised the front which allowed a lot of air under the car which subsequently lifted the rear too.
The greatest effect was with front spoiler only. This reduced the amount of air going under the car, helped to push the front down, hence increased the angle of attack of the whole top surface of the car which resulted in pushing the whole car down even more. They were measuring downforce up in the 100 - 150 #s per axle.
I'm not so sure those little slats would do much in that they do not represent much surface area for wind deflection. Besides, I don't think that front bumper cap can take that much pressure downwards anyway without getting "bent out of shape". They probably help by channelling the airflow and assisting the aerodynamics in that fashion. As for downforce, I think that reducing space between the front bumper and the ground would produce far greater effects than anything else.
In the late 60's, early 70's, a test was conducted using a Camaro. They tried different combinations of no spoilers, front only, rear only, both. It was NOT a convertible so take it with a grain of salt.
The front spoiler was a big "cow catcher" type of thing. The rear one was a large flat piece angled back and up about 45 degrees. They had measuring devices at all four wheels to determine how much spring compression there was. The car was driven at well over 100 mph.
The "naked" car was used as a baseline.
With both front and rear spoilers, they measured a slight increase all around.
With only rear spoiler, the car actually "lifted" because it pushed the back down initially and thus raised the front which allowed a lot of air under the car which subsequently lifted the rear too.
The greatest effect was with front spoiler only. This reduced the amount of air going under the car, helped to push the front down, hence increased the angle of attack of the whole top surface of the car which resulted in pushing the whole car down even more. They were measuring downforce up in the 100 - 150 #s per axle.
I'm not so sure those little slats would do much in that they do not represent much surface area for wind deflection. Besides, I don't think that front bumper cap can take that much pressure downwards anyway without getting "bent out of shape". They probably help by channelling the airflow and assisting the aerodynamics in that fashion. As for downforce, I think that reducing space between the front bumper and the ground would produce far greater effects than anything else.
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