rppngears91 Posted October 17, 2006 Share Posted October 17, 2006 hey guys i was just wondering if anyone could give me a good idea on how to create a nice front end splitter. Ive got a saleen front on a 91 Mustang. I wanted to the splitter to hang about 1-2 inches from the bottom of the saleen front end. Im not sure how its done, but ive seen it on Dunnivants Mustang. thanks c ya Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidfarmer Posted October 18, 2006 Share Posted October 18, 2006 1/8" aluminum works, if you have a metal brake. It will be heavy. If you can find one, you'd come out much better getting something off the shelf for your nose Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Armstrong Posted October 20, 2006 Share Posted October 20, 2006 Don't' put one on at all until your among the top finishers all the time or have worn out your seat with track time. I have wasted several race weekends screwing with a splitter. I'm not even sure these "home grown" things AI racers are bolting on help at all. Also a huge cluster in the paddock to get a car on/off the trailer. In many cases they look like an eyesore. If you go down this road don't bolt it to the radiator support in any way. If/when you go off it will bend the lower 1/2 of the support and ruin your radiator and your weekend. The G-Force stuff is well thought out and appears to actually do something. But it's just my opinion this stuff is for the racer that is already pushing the car to the limit. The driver who runs slightly under "all out" is just wasting time and money. Top CMC cars run middle of the pack AI (with nothing) and I wouldn't want one of those cars passing me while I'm sporting a giant wing and splitter. So much gets left on the table from poor preparation and lack of fully understanding chassis set up. I think splitters and wings should be an AIX thing only. I'm running BW without a splitter and will let you know if I felt like I was missing anything. If V- has a chance to take the car out I'll check his time without splitter against his lap records in the car with the "Hardware Store" splitter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rppngears91 Posted October 24, 2006 Author Share Posted October 24, 2006 hey man thanks a lot for the advice. I dont want to go out there next season looking like an idiot. Ill be in HPDE 1. But i seriously looking into trying one day for a competition lisence. I drove in a hyper drive 2005 season and my intrustor asked me if I had ever participated in a driving event before, when i told her no she was shocked and didnt believe me. She was probably just trying to make me feel good but she said she was impressed. Anyways I was at Marine Corps boot camp all this race season, but i was discharged right after training for medical reasons. Sucks but now im set on becoming a driver. It sounds silly but im going to try it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidfarmer Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 a propper splitter will help your handling dramatically, so I must disagree with the above statement. While there are lots of other things that can be improved on AI cars, aero (splitter and wing) will help. While it may hurt the cosmetics (matter of opinion), it is the only way to eliminate the OEM aero lift, and create real downforce. In my old World Challenge car, it made a huge difference I was admiring the setup of the car below. Basically, he went straight down from the OEM nose, then used aluminum channel to mount a small (1") splitter). He used about 8 dzus fasteners, so they can have it off with a screwdriver in about 3 minutes. **technical difficulties, photo soon*** Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidfarmer Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rppngears91 Posted October 24, 2006 Author Share Posted October 24, 2006 yea i think that looks bad ass. Its looks fairly easy to construct. Do u think adding a lip on the bottom of a saleen bumper will help at all? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidfarmer Posted October 27, 2006 Share Posted October 27, 2006 yes, I think the Saleen style would work, and run it back to the base of the radiator at least. You don't want any air flowing under the radiator. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidfarmer Posted October 27, 2006 Share Posted October 27, 2006 Oh, and btw, I agree with above that nothing will correct a bad mechanical grip setup. However, a splitter is free grip (ie downforce with virtually no extra drag), and a low angle wing is a great tuning tool that will give little drag unless you crank it way up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rppngears91 Posted October 27, 2006 Author Share Posted October 27, 2006 should i angle the splitter downwards or keep it straight?? angling it down would give me downforce but maybe too much drag? i dunno Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidfarmer Posted November 1, 2006 Share Posted November 1, 2006 these things aren't as intuitive as you would wish. Remember, the idea is to force air that would otherwise to UNDER the car, to go around or over (over is better). To much angle would make it like a wing, then the air coming up under the splitter would tumble under the car and tires. I think flat is good. A great article in Racecar Engineering (a UK publication) did show a nice freebie. If you have a car like the photo above, where the tires stick out beyond the fender opening, a vertical add-on is a big help. In other words, make the splitter the full width of the tires, then at the fender opening, have the splitter make a right angle upward. This helps with downforce, and supposedly helps create a little more vacuum around the wheels to help cooling. His (simon mcbeath) article also showed that the perpendicular verticle was more efficient than running an angled splitter, as you describe. I'll try and find a photo in case you have no idea what I'm talking about Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidfarmer Posted November 1, 2006 Share Posted November 1, 2006 OK, pardon the crappy artwork, but I don't have time to look for photos, and don't want to steal the copyrighted photos from the article. Basically, the top photo, flat splitter with "mud flap" extension, is better than an angled splitter. More downforce and/or less drag Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rppngears91 Posted November 1, 2006 Author Share Posted November 1, 2006 hey thanks a lot man!! which set up would be better the top or bottom photo?? beautiful art work by the way!! Im going to try to post some images once i make it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rppngears91 Posted November 1, 2006 Author Share Posted November 1, 2006 sorry im retarded, i was skim reading. I just answered my question by reading in depth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidfarmer Posted November 1, 2006 Share Posted November 1, 2006 BACK OFF, already apologized for the artwork Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidfarmer Posted November 1, 2006 Share Posted November 1, 2006 may be hard to see, but the top photo has black extension, both extendng the splitter and the vertical in front of the tires. The second photo has attached ramps, which in retrospect, was a BAD idea. However, detached "dive planes" as in IMSA cars, are a good thing. For what ever reason, having the ramp attached to the splitter just doesn't work. This data is all from wind tunnel testing by the above reference Simon Mcbeath Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rppngears91 Posted November 1, 2006 Author Share Posted November 1, 2006 im suprised the MM shop car WAS using the ?angled ramps? on the front splitter of thier car. Where can I find some atricles on basic areodynamics like the simon mcbeath article youve got? thanks again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rppngears91 Posted November 1, 2006 Author Share Posted November 1, 2006 by the way that vette is beautiful you can see the front driver tires completly off the road!!! (top pic) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidfarmer Posted November 2, 2006 Share Posted November 2, 2006 he's got a running section in the magazine http://www.racecar-engineering.com/ it's a bit expensive, but it has to be shipped in from Europe. You can also find his books on Aerodynamics. Just search at Amazon.com OR visit his site http://www.sm-designs.ndo.co.uk/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rppngears91 Posted November 2, 2006 Author Share Posted November 2, 2006 haha I just relized that corvette is your car! very nice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidfarmer Posted November 2, 2006 Share Posted November 2, 2006 my old car, ran it from 01 to 03 in World Challenge, including one Pro victory and track record at Mosport in 02'. The series has gotten too expensive now, and I wasn't even really able to finish my last car. Hoping to build an AI car if I can find a suitable Camaro/Firebird. My first WC car was a 93' Camaro, and it would be nice to return to my roots. AI seems like a fun class, very competitive, and rules to suit everybodys needs. My car will likely be the one described above, lots of wings/splitters, but still getting passed by the CMC cars! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rppngears91 Posted November 2, 2006 Author Share Posted November 2, 2006 hahah! yea well at least you wont be the only one....(me) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Patrick W. Posted January 12, 2007 Members Share Posted January 12, 2007 Hello, I just found this forum. I've been running AI in Florida for 2yrs, and have tried a homemade front splitter on my 90lx. It overheated the car almost immediately. I have a saleen front valance and ran the splitter back to the radiator support. Looked great, but didn't work right. I discussed it with one of our senoir instructors who has been racing for years. His opinion is that homemade splitters and spoilers can often harm more then they help. I wound up taking mine off. BTW, I saw 0 improvemt on my laptimes running them.[/img] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rppngears91 Posted January 12, 2007 Author Share Posted January 12, 2007 Hello, I just found this forum. I've been running AI in Florida for 2yrs, and have tried a homemade front splitter on my 90lx. It overheated the car almost immediately. I have a saleen front valance and ran the splitter back to the radiator support. Looked great, but didn't work right. I discussed it with one of our senoir instructors who has been racing for years. His opinion is that homemade splitters and spoilers can often harm more then they help. I wound up taking mine off. BTW, I saw 0 improvemt on my laptimes running them.[/img] Any ideas why it would over heat? It seems to me a direct air flow passage to the radioator would me it run cooler? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Patrick W. Posted January 12, 2007 Members Share Posted January 12, 2007 From what i gather, it"s the fact that the car requires some air flow from under the nose up into the radiator. I had already removed material in the nose and added mesh, but it wasn't enough. I wound up making a head extractor hood, which helped. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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