|
Tanjulio I am sorry my post was meant as a joke. Don't take me too seriously.
Now from my pitiful understanding of aerodynamics, I get the impression that a belly pan might be the answer for both reduced drag and increased downforce.
Reduced drag is obvious as it is smooth rather than bumpy under the car.
Downforce is increased because with the smooth belly pan air velocity under the car is higher and this means lower pressure, increased downforce. Side skirts should also help keep undercar pressure low.
A front airdam should help, but I think at this point you are getting into the "it depends" regime.
My real point is that at any of the velocities you should be driving downforce should not be your primary concern.
As far as venting the hood, their is an Australian web site ( I think it is Autospeed) sometimes linked to from this site. They have lots of good info on how to determine where to site vents.
They use a tool called a Magnahelic gauge to determine small pressure differences.
The high pressure point on the front of the car tends to be the center of the grill at bumper level or a bit lower. There is a low pressure zone just after the turn of the hood. So this explains the hood design of the Lotus Elan the high pressure air comes in through the lower grill flows through the radiator and exhausts on the top of the hood into the low pressure zone.
The grill block should improve drag. As regards engine temps ;you have to pay attention. Your car is designed to work well from Siberia to the Sahara from the factory. You are going to be using it only a fraction of its capability and can trade off the design margins that are built in for improved performance in a narrower operating range.
I for example have a 90hp Volks TDI but that same Golf body (and grill) is available with a 180hP gas motor. So already I know I probably have 2x the cooling capacity that I need, not including the effect of higher diesel efficiency. So it should be safe for me to block half the grill no problem.
|