When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
I destroyed my Blackbird Fabworx rear spoiler in an off track event in the rain at VIR a few weeks ago. I'm very happy with the Blackbird spoiler, so I ordered another one (and a replacement trunk lid). That was three weeks ago and although I have an invoice for my order, I have had no other communication. I'm looking for alternatives.
I obtained this aluminum wing quite a while ago, free of charge.
It seems to be in good shape. It's missing one of the rubber mounting feet, but that's easily kludged. There are no markings anywhere that would give a hint as to who made it. It's 56 3/16" wide overall. The upper foil is 5 1/2" wide with a chord of 6 1/4". The smaller foil is 3" with a chord of 3 5/16". The mounts are 7/16" thick and roughly 7" tall at the mid-point. The large foil has two positions available. The smaller has three. It has two mounting options. The uprights are screwed into the widest position now, ~ 15 3/4" center-to-center.
The trunk lid is pretty tweaked, but it opens and closes and latches fine, I have already acquired a replacement lid that I was planning to use with the replacement Blackbird spoiler. I'm contemplating attaching the mystery wing to the tweaked trunk lid and was wondering what I might expect.
I'm running these small canards and the OEM air dam up front.
The spoiler and canards do everything I need. Believe it or not, she's done a 2:11.37 on VIR Full with a relatively new set of Nankang AR-1s. The canards got rid of the front lightness I sometimes experienced at the kink on the front straight at VIR, or on the back straight at the top of the hill when there's a crosswind.
Will the wing overpower the canards? Any advice as to where on the trunk lid to mount it, i.e how far back or forward? Any idea who made it?
Run the lower one at a low AoA, the upper can be run much more aggressive without stalling. Mount it well back, and test. If it does overpower the splitter, reduce the AoA of the upper.
It's as far back as I could mount it without getting into the curvy part of the lid. With the feet fully bolted down, the uprights slip in easily on both sides, as do the cross bolts. I can screw in the bolts for the main wing through the uprights by hand, There's no binding anywhere, so I'm pretty happy, given the fact I would never have actually purchased one like it in the first place.
My previous description was not quite accurate. The main foil only has one mounting position on the uprights, but the side plates have two positions wrt the main foil. One puts the small foil above the main. The other puts the leading edge below the main foil.
Given the limited front aero, how should I set up the wing for my first time out? Should I even use the small foil?
First up, a disclaimer: I have never run a dual-element wing, nor have I researched their setup.
I would do my first run(s) with it set like the top picture. If the car is understeery in the high speed stuff, take the small foil off and try again (you have too much rear DF). Alternatively, if oversteery, use the upper rear mounting for the small foil to give it a greater AoA (you don't have enough rear DF)..
The bottom photo looks all wrong to me, but I am not sufficiently knowledgeable to say why, except that if F1 cars run the small foil above and behind the main one, they probably have a good reason ... In fact, the angle of the main foil in that picture looks pretty right to me, and may produce a similar level of DF by itself to the setup in the top picture, if so the question is which one produces the least drag (ie gives you the higher top speed). That would be a matter of experimentation (get used to it, aero requires a lot of that).
Have you got a splitter on it yet? If/when you do, you will have lots more front DF, and will have to increase whatever the level of DF you have at the back.
The bottom photo looks all wrong to me, but I am not sufficiently knowledgeable to say why, except that if F1 cars run the small foil above and behind the main one, they probably have a good reason ... In fact, the angle of the main foil in that picture looks pretty right to me, and may produce a similar level of DF by itself to the setup in the top picture, if so the question is which one produces the least drag (ie gives you the higher top speed). That would be a matter of experimentation (get used to it, aero requires a lot of that).
The angle of the main foil is the same in both photos.
I will probably start out with the wing set up as in the first pic, just so I know I have all the parts with me...
I just noticed that the rear foil has three rear mount holes. If moving it from the lowest, move to next hole, test, and if needing more rear DF (still understeering), then go to the top hole.
Take a look at Occams Racer, he messed around here and part two here, with one of these dual element ebay wings and tried to make it workable. Hopefully you can get some insight from there but I remember he made different end plates to change the wing spacing and angle and used different uprights.
Take a look at Occams Racer, he messed around here and part two here, ...
Thay's a useful link, have a cat!
Definitely do two mods ASAP - support the upper foil as described, and put a fairing on the lower surface of the lower foil. If you can't do a proper job on the fairing quickly, use racer tape to cover the slots until you can
Second stage, new end plates and higher mounts - the higher mounts will make a big difference, and you will need to do all your testing over again, to rebalance the car for the new DF level.
I fuckificated my Blackbird Fabworx adjustable spoiler spinning into a tire wall at VIR in the rain. I broke, bent, or lost enough of the spoiler kit that I ordered a new kit, as well as a used replacement trunk lid to mount it on. Unfortunately, I will not be able to acquire another Blackbird spoiler kit any time soon, if ever. I've had a chyneeze, aluminum, dual element wing sitting out next to the driveway for quite some time that I had obtained free of charge. All I want to do is mount the chyneeze wing on the banged up trunk lid and get roughly the same amount of downforce as provided by the Blackbird spoiler. That's the goal for right now. I'm not doing any modifying or fabricating at this time.
The Occam's Racer articles were interesting, but I would have benefited from some more pictures or drawings. I completely understand I jumped right into the middle of "aero" without doing a modicum of research, but that's where I'm at. I'm taking the chyneeze wing, with whatever adjustability it has, to the track in less than two weeks for a one day event. I'll have minimal opportunities to experiment, so I was looking for suggestions as to how to initially set it up. Nothing more.
You got setup advice above. You want to run a piece of dubious aero, be my guest. You want to ignore a couple of suggestions, that will cost you bugger all effort, time and money, feel free. You did ask for advice ...
Let's face reality. You are taking your piece of ebay sh1te to the track in two weeks time for a day's experimentation. That experimentation will be run in conjunction with some event or other, because you don't have any opportunity to 'test' beforehand (just like most of us, who test at events we are entered in).
There seems to be no book of rules for this piece of kit, quelle surprise! So you just have to suck it and see, try stuff and see what works, making changes on the run.
My wife unit was not home when I did the install on Saturday. She didn't see it until Monday. When I got home from work, I opened up the garage door and put the trunk lid down so she could get the full effect. She said "That's ******* ridiculous". I still love her.
I did a track day at Dominion Raceway this past Saturday. Nothing bad happened. In fact, I took nearly half a second off my personal best time. Do I attribute that to the wing? No. I was on different tires and front pads then my previous best time, so there are too many variables. However, the wing did not create any understeer, and did not affect top speed either. I didn't do any math, but it looks like I was consistently a mile an hour or so faster at the end of the front straight. Is that because I was going deeper into the braking zone before lifting? Probably.
I've got a VIR event coming up. It will be interesting to see what the wing does at the higher VIR speeds.
Do you have any data from this and the previous event to compare? (Eg race chrono, Harry’s lap timer, etc)
Without some sort of data to verify, you can’t possibly determine if the wing helped or not.
being on different (better?) tyres means you can typically get on the gas earlier out of the corner leading on to the straight which could give you an extra 3 mph all the way down the straight, and the wing drag lost you 2 so you saw net 1mph gain. Again pure conjecture without data .
Also if you didn’t find any understeer from running the wing, then it suggests it isnt providing any meaningful downforce, so you’d be copping a drag penalty for no downforce benefit.
Obviously I don't know that track, but yes, 'slow' tracks are less aero-sensitive that faster ones, because the forces generated by the aero vary with the square of the airspeed (car speed roughly). It is not unusual to crank up the AoA at those tracks, and return it to a lower setting at the faster ones, so next time you go back to Dominion that would be something to try.
03-21-2024, 08:34 AM
Mystery rear wing and advice
0
