|
I know of the incidents with the Mercedes racers. I'm pretty sure it was at Lemans. If I remember correctly, they figured out that the car did generate lift if it was given a certain angle of attack. It seems that the cars hit bumps where the accidents started that caused them to do just that. Nobody noticed in the wind tunnel testing because the car sat on flat surface during all the testing. It seems like it really changed race car aerodynamics, guys got to thinking about what would happen to the cars aero in all kinds of circumstances, not just nice flat tracks. Not sure if that's what caused stock cars to develop their automatic roof spoilers, but I do know they've had them for a while. Of course, because their shape is fairly limited by rules, they can't change the entire car if it generates lift. So they just kill the lift if the car starts to get airborne.
|