spoiler

The Oily Bits S1 Specific Topics
1

did anyone ever try to drive the car without the huge spoiler -it gives almost 60kg downforce at 200km/h and 45kg at 100m/h but i’m sure it slows the car down for at least 10km/h - i think the elise motorsport has a flatter spoiler but with bigger sideflaps.at the front, the exige has a “bare stabilisatrice r�glable” wich you don’t have at the rear. is that the reason for the spoiler. my feeling is and i’m certainly not an engineer, if you’d have a “bare stabilisatrice” at the rear, you could remove the big spoiler and a little duck tail like on some elises would be sufficient instead and you would gain speed or do i overestimate the pure mechanical grip ?

2

I’ve always thought the Exige was more of a ‘go round corners quickly’ rather than a ‘go fast in a straight line’ kinda car.Therefore, the spoiler is a good thing!Ian [image]http://www.exiges.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/smile.gif[/image]

3

The Exige is 2 seconds per lap faster than an Elise Sport 190 on the Lotus test track. That is due to the areodynamic setup as well as a few other things. If you change the spoilers, you will give up some speed on track. If you change just the rear, or the front, you will unbalance the car. Just my .02 worth…Roy

4

I think you are all missing the point…the rear spoiler looks the dogs danglies. I wouldn’t take it off for any reason [image]http://www.exiges.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/grin.gif[/image]

5

quote:Originally posted by RobS:I think you are all missing the point…the rear spoiler looks the dogs danglies.Why do you think most Countachs have the monster rear wing? It’s definitely not needed (in fact at very high speed it generates too much downforce) but as you say it does look the danglies! [image]http://www.exiges.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/cool.gif[/image]

6

Narc,why are you worried about the downforce?As IDG says, the car is not meant for straight line speed (and by the way, neither is an F1 !). They are made for cornering, this is it strength.And Lotus claims it gives 80Kg downfore at 100Mph (160Km/h). That means that your car will be more planted at high speed turns.If you removed it you would have an unbalanced machine, and would certainly be passed by another (winged) Exige in the turns [image]http://www.exiges.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/grin.gif[/image]The stabilizer bar you’re talking about has nothing to do with a wing, they’re made for entirely different purposes. You have a different setup in the rear, with the bump-steering design in the Lotus (a form of steering the rear wheels while cornering).So, let the wing be. It’s a good thing.And yes, you’ll have to accept thet if you’re staright-line-racing an Exige, you have bought the wrong car.For that, buy a TVR, or a Viper, or a… Big Block Chevy !!Cheers,Uldis [image]http://www.exiges.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/smile.gif[/image]

7

All valid points guys, but don’t forget that Narciris spends much of his tracktime at Spa & the Ring, so that’s probably why he’s posed the question. [image]http://www.exiges.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/wink.gif[/image]

8

I guess we all agree that keeping the downforce is a good thing, but I can’t help wondering whether a more efficient design of rear wing, possibly in conjuction with a better diffuser might make a useful difference to straight line performance with no change in the downforce. I’m sure we’d all like a little more speed down the straights.

9

You are not going to get much benefit from a diffuser with the ride height as it is. maybe if it was lowered to a couple of cm then it would.The design of the rear wing is severely compromised by regulations for getting the car on the road - the size and shape of end plates being the most visually obvious.Geary at Eliseparts has a rear wing that is adjustable for rake if you did feel the urge to experiment.Cheers

10

Sorry Pesky, sorry Narc,didn’t know you were doing those kinds of tracks.The only option I would recommend then would be to get some more BHP so you can rev the car to 9000 rpm. that way you should be able to get into the 160’s (Mph)Shouldn’t be that difficult (about 3 grand for 220HP) or maybe more?But don’t play with the aerodynamics (you might end up in a discussion like the Rear vents mods [image]http://www.exiges.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/wink.gif[/image] )Cheers,Uldis

11

Hey Narciris, it suddenly occured to me. If you spend loads of time at the 'Ring, what kind of time does an Exige lap it in?Cheers, Ian [image]http://www.exiges.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/smile.gif[/image]

12

Uldis,I reckon you’d need a lot more than 220bph to get over 160mph. More like 270+bph in my opinion.[This message has been edited by Brendan (edited 09 October 2002).]

13

Ian, a german magazine (sport auto) the best one in germany, tested an Exige there an timed 8.42, small course Hockenheim: 1.14,8laterBruno

14

In retrospective I think you’re right Brendan, 220HP sounds like too little.Maybe some of the supercharged boys can do a few hi-speed runs and tell us?Uldis

15

This thread raises an interesting question to me.Forgetting for a moment about the potential of unbalancing the car (which I accept is a risk)Can any boffins out there tell me what the effect would be of changing the angle of the existing wing - let’s say in 5 degree increments up or down.Might be very useful when sprinting and hillclimbing - an extra few kilos of downforce or a few less depending on the circuit.Not sure that a small change like this would destroy the balance - might actually allow people to adjust the balance of the car to their liking.Any takers for an answer?

16

i don’t take my laptimes, Willy Green told me not to do so But the car can easily follow the Ringtaxi (between 8.45 and 9.00) so I think the 8.42 of Ringmeister Horst von Saurma (Sport Auto) can be beaten. The test car had no upgrades and was on normal tyres. Let’s say you need a BIG porsche to beat the car.The idea of changing the angle of the wing is great (best of both worlds)

17

quote:Originally posted by Mark Barrett:Any takers for an answer?I think it’d be really hard to know exactly without good CAD or a wind-tunnel. If you want to give it a go, Geary has some tiltable wings - http://www.eliseparts.com (see Carbon & Bodywork)Ian [image]http://www.exiges.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/smile.gif[/image]

18

Or you could also try some washers.You would need small variation in the order of a few deg to get different results.Why not trying decreasing the angle by including one washer at a time and seeing how it goes?Uldis

19

has anyone thought about extending the front spoiler?It struck me looking at most of the racing cars at the sutosport show and then reading a litle in a motorsport performance book that they all had a horizontal extension to the bottom of the splitter. I imagine that this stops air curling around to go underneath.I was thinking it should be possible to put one on the exige, possibly only for trackdays, by attaching it to the bolts underneath the front of the car?Any thoughts?

20

My wind tunnel’s closed for repairs.