Apparently I never said any of APR products were useless. Expensive, yes. Likely to get damaged, yes.

You absolutely want them to not be too hard to tear off, or you will be spending a whole lot more time putting the new ones back on.

I am getting to know you now. You are sensitive. It is sweet. You do have a pretty car though.

 

Not sure if it'll work as well as I intended, but that beatrush undertray that im using will hopefully prove to be strong enough to keep that from happening. It'll be on top of the splitter for the most part, well atleast the parts of it unseen from being covered by the bumper.

 

Yeah, I usually get more emails with updates to this thread than any other. Sam has done alot with his car and kudos to him for taking pictures and keeping it current.

For a "typical" track day, aero is rarely seen, unless you go to track events in California. That's seems to be where the most examples are seen due to available resources. Aero is typically seen at competitive events, though, whether it's SCCA, NASA or Redline.

I do agree that carbon is an expensive choice when you have cheaper alternatives and an off track excursion is always a possibility.

Sam's car, as you've noticed, has been built very meticulously. I'm not arguing for or against him, i'm just stating the obvious.

 

I agree with this statement... Most of the time, carbon doesn't hold up well to strong direct impacts with apexes and objects. When it is used in body panels, the chances of this occurance is less likely if the driver knows what he/she is doing. However, using it in underbody applications can be iffy. Hit a pure carbon front splitter on an apex directly and it's gone. Kevlar reinforcement helps with this some, but is not a care-all fix. I plan to use a product from my work as a complete underbody cover. It is an reinforcement fiber that is placed into polypropylene and is pressed into shape. Nascar currently uses this material for the construction of their front splitters. Also, the military uses it as an anti-ballistic material for grenades and small caliber firearms. It does all this will keeping weight low as well... Info can be found here:

About half-way down the page under the Tegris section:
Tegris MindTribe Blog

Company homepage:
Tegris Home Page

 

it's called aluminum. it won't break, just bend, and won't go through heat exchanger's.

 

(How will an aluminum sheet not destroy my aluminum rad or i/c when its slammed into it with considerable force??? you want a material weaker than the one your trying to protect if the splitter breaks, or you want the splitter to break away in peices and not stay together and whipe out all of your nice pricey exchangers.)

I've seen a few aluminum splitters destroy some nice pricey rads. Like already hustler mentioned, plywood is a great material for splitters.

 

Plywood is great material. That cannot be denied and im aware that one day this CF splitter will shred off the car, but I am prepared to replace it everytime. Its really more of a matter if you're ready to rip it off and put another one on there. But just because there are pricey parts on the car doesnt mean that i'll baby the thing. I guess im just more willing than others. Heres some pics. I just finished mounting it. I'll get better ones tomorrow.







Im considering an Rharris hood. If someone is selling any ducted hood from their miata please let me know

 

Nice! Looks beautiful and I'm sure it'll makes its presence well known at the track. Having had plenty of offs though, I can't help but wince when I think of the material!

Anyone remember the old Rabbit racers of old? We all riveted on some plastic, vertically, just south of the grill, making a cheap and easily replaceable air dam. Worked beautifully, for aero and wallet alike. Used to see them all over the SCCA courses for years...

 

Sorry for bringing up an old thread, but I can only send PMs to a certain few due to my post count.

The Wizdom bumper is not completely flat underneath, e.g.,. the area under the opening of the bumper.
Did you do anything about this or did you leave it be?

I am not sure if I want to make a splitter for my Wizdom bumper or my OEM bumper + lip. I like the Wizdom bumper as I won't have to make tire spats.

 

No idea what a Wizdom bumper is exactly but....

This.

I love people who get headgaskets capable of handling anything and then blow pistons instead.

 

i don't know how you guys are making splitters, but mine goes all the way back UNDER the radiator. i went off at VIR during a redline time attack, went over the curbing at a 45* angle. i only have 4 attachment points on my alum. splitter, and i don't know if you guys know this, but aluminum tends to bend, not shatter or splinter into pieces. anyway's the splitter got folded down on the left side. as i drove back to the hot pit, i heard it scraping the ground. not wanting it to break loose and cause an accident, i drove slowly. when i got to the pits i realized the splitter was not loose at all, just bent down, i couldn't bend it back up, so i tried to just stomp it down off the attachment points so i could get back out for another lap. well i'm a big guy 6'1'' 275lbs, and i couldn't get it to budge. point is, i don't know how i could make my alum. splitter go through my intercooler or radiator. maybe if it was just for looks and only was connected to the bumper like a lip then maybe, but mine is installed for performance and goes all the way UNDER, not in FRONT of the heat exchangers. if my splitter hits my radiator, it wouldn't have mattered because i would have destroyed my radiator anyway.

sorry not trying to go offtopic, that apr splitter looks awesome! i just don't have the money to go fast AND be pretty. aluminum only cost me $60 and about $12 on hardware. btw sam, even though my diffuser looks just like yours, i only have 2 allthread supports bolted at the rear tow hooks, and the other 2 at the rearmost chassis brace bolts. you went overboard with your upper mounting bolts. a diffuser doesn't see the same type of forces as a splitter. unless you used too thin a gauge of alum., in which case you probably gained in hardware what you lost in weight of the diffuser.

 

Mine also goes way under the radiator, plus I have a beatrush aluminum undertray that covers everything again up to the transmission. Its not going off topic really. When I snapped on that one guy a while back I was really pissed that day and just not in the mood for criticism lol. Also my diffusers needed extra support since they cover the entire span of my rear bumper and would flop the sideplates in the wind while moving. Its supposed to not even budge. The constant "bottoming out" sparks were cool until i mounted it that way though lol. Reminded me of F1 in the 80s

 

Any chance you drew this diffuser up in cad? My dad owns a fab shop so I'd like to get one made for my wizdom rear.