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Old 12-24-2009, 09:25 PM   #12 (permalink)
m4a1mustang
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Quote:
Originally Posted by boosted180 View Post
what do you mean by "more effective"? you mean faster lap times? yes, i want that, BUT without adding too many other mods to my car. (currently i have springs, sway bars, and front control arms). i dont see more than about 2 events per month and want to keep it relatively comfortable for a daily driver. i've had 2 240sx's and 3 miata's that are very track-biased in the set-up. my relatively stock and comfortable 370z is a nice change.

i'm not looking for more mechanical grip. (the single best mod for that would be r-compounds, wich would require me to go to a stiffer suspension, to fully utilize.) i dont want to do at this point.

what i AM looking for is a more settled car on high speed corners (t1 at sow, t8 at big willow, roval at autoclub speedway, etc. etc.). that's why i'm asking for comments from people who are running wings on their z's.

most of the miata guys are seeing about 1.5-2 second reductions in their lap times (depending on track) with wings on. i'm convinced of their effectiveness (esp. in combination with diffusers, splitters and other aero mods). what i need more info on is what's available for the z.

mike's car (with the kognition wing) definitely felt more planted going through the chicane and t1 at sow than my car. he said he was having some issues with his car and didnt know what kind of times he was running.
I didn't realize you had already worked the suspension a bit.

What I'm saying is that you do need to be careful with the aerodynamic balance of the car. If you slap a rear wing on and don't do anything with the front, you will help with rear grip but you'll probably end up taking a little away from the front.

Quite frankly, I don't know what kind of numbers these wings produce at speed, so I don't really know how much the balance will be upset. But in theory, you're going to be gaining rear grip and losing some in the front on high speed corners where the wing is generating enough downforce to upset the front/rear balance of the car.

Just some food for thought. If you try the wing and feel like you're running into that issue, then maybe some canards up front or even a Nismo nose would help to put some downforce on the front and help with the balance issue.

It's all theory -- there are no numbers available for us so it's all going to be a trial by fire. Doubtful any of these companies have the resources to put a Z in a wind tunnel for an extended period... who knows if they're even running computer simulations or not.
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