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Old 12-23-2007, 09:40 PM   #20 (permalink)
DifferentPointofView
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The Jeep! - '95 Jeep Grand Cherokee ZJ Laredo
90 day: 23.75 mpg (US)

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well, I was just thinking of the lift problem because the whole car is shaped like an airplane wing, and since there is more down force towards the rear of the vehicle, this would lessen the weight on the front end, that could result in the front catching a wind gust and lifting the front end off of the ground. As I recall the Ferrari F430 has no lift at all, but creates around 360ish lbs of downforce at 100mph, even more weight at 180. But the downside is it's drag coefficient is like .32, which isn't real bad at all.

Most every car creates lift because of it's similar shape to an airplane wing, uneven raised surface on top, flat surface on bottom. The air going over the top has to go a lot faster than over the bottom so that the air meets up at the back at the same time as the bottom. This creates a high speed, low pressure on top and a low speed, high pressure on bottom, creating lift.

Now this only becomes a factor when you go at speeds up past 100mph, depending on the vehicle. A boxy high off the ground oddly shaped vehicle at 100 will have more lift than a low to the ground low slope windshield vehicle with front lip spoilers and rear inverted wings. Most lift is only felt at speeds of 150ish and up. Which is why most normal vehicles traveling on the autobahn at 120ish can without problem.

A vehicle that is symmetrical in every aspect will have an equal distribution of down force and lift, resulting in an equilibrium that makes no lift, and no down force. Sports cars try and speed the air on the bottom of the vehicle and slow the top by using flat bottomed vehicles to try and reduce drag and add things to make the incoming air speed up, and as it goes out the rear to speed up, they also add spoilers and pieces that cause drag over the top of the vehicle, resulting in the opposite of an airplane wing, even though it was originally in the shape of one.
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