Quote:
Originally Posted by j-c-c
I believe Richie' s car at Sebring was a Roadster, ie no real roof line? And your thinking it was a transfer of technology from his aircraft experience probably has a lot of merit. I believe the correct year is 1961 not 1962 I first mentioned. Its been awhile.
The earlier comment on the Gurney flap is tougher IMO to categorize, as it is applicable to wings, spoilers, and "lips".
Nothing I have read here has made a strong enough case for me to rethink my position on "lips" vs spoilers.
This is an "econo" site, so the mindset of dwelling on drag reduction vs DF, I get that, and by the same token the Sebring Ferrarri spoiler was all about DF and I suspect not drag. Hard to teach old dogs new tricks.
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I Googled Ritchie Ginther Ferrari and the car I had in mind ran at Le Mans in 1961 and '62 as a 'Targa' body type.The rear upswept spoiler could be imagined as a fixed,speed brake or trim tab.
The 1963 250 GTO Coupe has a roofline that is too fast,would have separated flow,and lift,and the tip of the spoiler would bring the body up to the template and clean air for stability and drag reduction.The teams would attempt a balance between high speed on the Mulsanne Straight,and cornering force on the low speed chicanes.