Quote:
Originally Posted by R.G.
Understood, thanks for the update Brian.
So if I understand correctly removing the cowl will actually decrease aero unless there was a modification done to the far edges of the cowl where air pressure would be lower. Is that correct?
Can you elaborate a little on the cooling strategies you have implemented?
I'd love to have a set up similar to yours with some sort of louvers incorporated to keep drag low and venting high. Is your under tray made of plastic? I apologize if it's already been covered.
Thanks again for all the work. Super appreciated
|
No problem! It has been fun making and testing these (especially when seeing the fun data that shows them actually working well) and it's also resulted in opportunities to make one-off complete systems for "real" racecars
I'm not quite sure what you're picturing for the 'far edges' of the cowl, but the result of removing the cowl would be less pressure at the base of the windshield because that high pressure air would flow into the engine bay - would meaning the net result would be less drag and less downforce.
Louvers on the topside of the hood are one of the best ways to remove engine heat as well as increase downforce. The speed of the air going over the top of the hood would provide quite a bit of low pressure to "suck" the hot air out of the engine bay.
The strides in cooling were a combination of better ducting for the 2 big Setrab oil coolers, E85 and RB turbos, so I target 425whp without any worry of oil or coolant temps. I'll try to get some photos of the oil cooler setup this evening or weekend, but essentially it's two Setrab cores (one on each side of the bumper), with proper ducting to get air through them efficiently. Now it takes a very hot day to get temps above 255*F even with the sealed underbody.
As of early 2013 all of the underbodies/splitters/diffusers are all made primarily of carbon fiber with various sandwich materials. The splitters and undertrays consist of carbon and kevlar with balsa wood for the sandwich material, and the diffuser is made of only carbon with a airex foam as the sandwich material.