Who supplies ??
I know it wont work on the road but its for the track …
Lotus Motorsport? Geary? I think you also need a different front piece to the undertray as well. According to Peter Kate, first year Autobytel, the splitter doesn’t actually impove the car that much, its more the rake on the front clam. But saying that some of the motorsport cars are running it so low it scrapes on skid blocks under braking.
Cheers
Geary suggested that you would need the motorsport front clam as well, since the shape and holes are different…
He has alternatives on his site, though I have not looked at prices yet…
Gearys reply to me was:
“Will not work on the road - we do not supply it”
Has anyone ever tried fixing a proper flat splitter to the bottom of the existing one? I would imagine this would help front end grip without much of a drag penalty. Also, has anyone tried dive planes or any other trick bits like that?
. Also, has anyone tried dive planes or any other trick bits like that?
whazzatt ?? sorry for being thick but i am intrigued
A dive plane is something that is used a lot on sports prototype cars to balance/add downforce at the front. They mostly sit in front of the front wheel and, in there simplest form, are a simple flat plate with an angle of attack to the airflow. What they actually do is create a vortex on their lower side which causes low pressure (technical name is a vortex generator). There is no reason they couldn’t be tested on a car like the Exige but I think they may be a bit too draggy for the amount of power we have.
Here is the Lister sporting a set of dive planes:
Dean Lanzante runs something very similar on his race car, but that is the only one I have seen.
Cheers
I have some photos of these applied to an Exige - will post them when I get home at weekend …
Here is the Lister sporting a set of dive planes:
Thanks Randy
Its clear to me now…
Have a look here
nice one andy
I really like that car…
Here is the Lister sporting a set of dive planes:
Urk! Batman has lost his car! Can’t say I like that, but the dive planes are certainly clear (even if they look more like weapons).
Ian
Thanks for the pic Andy. It would be interesting to know if they work. I’ve never driven a Motorsport car but I imagine that the front downforce needs to be increased a fair amount to balance the effects of the bigger rear wing.
All,
We have been working on a front splitter for the exige this weekend. Adjustable from 3/4" to 2".Need to do some more development work yet but hope to have a prototype on the car soon. Will post some pics as soon as possible.
Steve & Martin (Da Edwards Boys)
That sounds really interesting. Let us know how you get on with it.
I’ve just knocked up a simple dive plane, here what does ‘the collective’ think of the design? It’s obviously a little bit rough at the moment, the mounting brackets will have to be improved for a start. It’s made from a sheet of self-adhesive carbon fibre stuck onto a sheet of acrylic. I’d be interested in getting some feedback before I finish it.
Shape looks good, it’s pretty.
But to me, if there is no function (too weak as you mention, unable to generate downforce) it has the risk of being just a fashion thing.
Why not keep the same shape and make it really strong, bolted somehow to be able to hold like… 10 Kg each?
Uldis
Thanks for the reply, Uldis. I’m really not sure how strong it needs to be at this stage. I’ll have to get somebody to drive alongside me at speed and see if there’s much deflection. When I said the brackets need improvement, I actually meant that they don’t look pretty enough
I’ve just been reading a book on aerodynamics, and it seems that dive planes don’t generate downforce directly. They create vortices along the sides of the car which reduce the tendancy of the air at the sides of the car to get sucked into the underside. I guess this means there isn’t going to be a huge force on the planes. I’ve stood a 1Kg bag of sugar on it, and it deflected by about 3mm.