New member: Autocrosser and Engineer
 

Hi,

I'm Norman.
Im an Avid autocrosser and Engineer.
Currently me and my wife each drive Ford Focuses (Foci?)
So, one of my cars will not be ecomodded as it is a race car and weight / grip/ rulebook trumps all else. with all the go fast parts on it I'm currently getting 20% worse fuel economy than a stock car. O well.
I am however interested in aerodynamics and am considering some aero touches to non race rars. subtle things that will help no matter who drives or how they drive, like air dam, wheel covers, flat underbody.

just for fun, I put the aero template on my car anyways.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y24...psffc5ab2e.jpg

but you cant see the aeropic cuz i dont have posts.....

Making your car more aerodynamic should make it faster, even though you are adding weight.

above all else I have to comply with the rulebook which negates alot of things i could do.

Secondly, auto-x is a low speed sport. top speed is around 70mph (averaging 40mph). the emphasis is all on handling (grip, accel, decel) and I would have additional heat considerations (engine/brakes).
to that end, the benefit:effort ratio is not worth it. And people go to shocking lengths to drop weight in this sport (ie. paying 500 hundreds of dollars for a Li car battery to save 15lbs).

another example is racing seats. I've swapped out to an aluminum racing seats (and it holds me in place), but for the passenger seat, it was all about weight, and i mounted it with the bare minimum bracketry as close to the floor as I could).

Kirkeys? What class are you in, FSP? Some guys are finding aero benefits in *SP classes - but not the kind of aero one would do for ecomodding.

Anyway, welcome from another engineer and autocrosser.

ya kirkeys,
yes FSP.
i know the CSP miatas and alot of other RWD cars are using the rear air deflectors, but i dont think the benefit is there for a FWD car.

Welcome to the group Norm.
I think an interesting read for you would be the Hybrid battery.
Very light and you may be able to improve upon it with LI cells???
The just of it is small motorcycle battery sandwhiched into super caps.
Very light already and capable imagine using L/I instead of L/A motor bike cells.

I've seen some on the front of FWD cars to clean up wheel well aero and provide some down-force. Like this: Grassroots Splitter: Grassroots Motorsports forum: Grassroots Motorsports Magazine

https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.n...03472493_n.jpg
https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphot...55327503_n.jpg

true enough. I'll agree some benefit can be made, but for me its not worth my time/effort/money.
my autox car is my daily driver, so looks are important too. I've already got an air dam/lower lip.
https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.n...29858045_o.jpg