Quote:
Originally Posted by Christ
Carlos - Downforce. They use them in NHRA/IHRA as well.
I don't remember the whole reason they work, but I think I remember something about Bernoulli in there, or maybe I was day dreaming during that lecture. Either way, they're there to produce downforce.
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Land speed racing is a whole different animal than drag racing. That spoiler is undoubtedly designed to reduce drag as well as reduce lift. At Bonneville, reducing Cd is the number one goal of body design. Often ballast will be added instead of spoilers to add downforce for traction since you have a long distance to get up to your top speed.
I've got a book called Competition Car Aerodynamics that discusses the effect of angle and spoiler length in some detail. According to it, on a typical stock bodied car, a spoiler with an angle less than 20° can both reduce lift and reduce drag.
Mike