Quote:
Originally Posted by JulianEdgar
It's really funny one. If you never drive over 80 km/h - 50 mph - I wouldn't worry about lift figures at all. Not at all.
But if you drive at 110 km/h - about 70 mph - then I think it becomes really important. Especially with, as you say, headwinds and humps. And even more so, with overtaking.
Between where I live (hamlet: population 150) and the nearest town (population: 1000) there is 10km (6m) of empty road where sometimes I drive very fast. It has a hump over a corner where the the car can get very light indeed. Then, having downforce is excellent.
But it's a bit like any area of car modification.
- If you haven't experienced the difference that varying levels of acceleration throttle enrichment can make, you might assume: who cares?
- If you haven't experienced the difference that varying levels of power steering assistance can make, you might assume: who cares?
- If you haven't experienced the difference that varying levels of suspension damping can make, you might assume: who cares?
And so on.
Being able to change car behavior and then see how it feels is almost always a revelation.
It's exactly the same with lift/downforce. |
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' Lift by itself is not a serious problem in the current passenger vehicle at highway speeds ( 70-mph ).' Kent B. Kelly, Harry J. Holcombe, General Motors Styling Staff, SAE Paper No. 649A, 1963, SAE Congress.