Blatman Posted July 31, 2002 Share Posted July 31, 2002 I reckon it was bump steer more than anything else. Is your car a live axle too. I have a sneaking suspicion it is! IMO (look it up ) swept wings couldn't possibly generate any noticeable lift (a bit of drag, maybe). Why? Beacuse the air has somewhere to go. It isn't trapped under there by any air dams or anything, so it bleeds away as fast is it enters. Any lift would be finite, and have a maximum well under the weight of the engine. My untested theory is this: Cossie engine weighs ~130Kg's. Wings generate ~50Kg's lift. Engine now weighs ~80Kg's, same as a Rover K series/**kg'smore than a Fireblade. Do fireblades handle crap 'cos they have light front ends?..........I don't reckon I'd want to put ~50Kg's of upward pressure on my swept wings. They'd break, or the stays would fail.......... FWIW (testing you now! ) my swept wing sprint car doesn't seem to have any more lift than my cycle winged road car (which I have sprinted 3 time now at venues that I know well.....). The swept wing car's engine may be slightly heavier (Atmo Cossie) than my cycle wing car (Vx Xe), but the Cossie car is ~25kg's lighter overall........ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stu999 Posted July 31, 2002 Share Posted July 31, 2002 I tend to disagree. They could cause lift, and the design of the wing incorporates a generous radius on the edge to 'trap' the air and get it to work in unwanted ways. Besides, air dams etc only serve to make spoilers more effective. Try getting an old number plate, shove it out of the cockpit and hold that at a similar angle to a swept wing when travelling at a fair rate of knots and you will see what I mean (but only if you are a passenger and strictly off road folk).The wings have a considerably larger surface area. And if it only made the difference of the fireblade example, then even that is sufficient to effect considerably the handling characteristics. Plenty of people have discussed on earlier threads how much difference a bike conversion has altered the front springing requirements. They do handle crap if you leave Xflow spec springs on. So when the car reaches speeds that may or may not make a difference I would get less effective weight across the front axle, which in turn not only raises the suspension and possibly start creating bump steer, but if the front is lifting then more air will be forced underneath the vehicle which compounds the situation. At the end of the day, I didnt change the wings to cure the problem, it was just a very welcome side effect from, IMO (whey hey) a cosmetic point of view. And yes, it is a live axle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samcooke Posted August 1, 2002 Share Posted August 1, 2002 What did you do with the holes previously used to mount the swept wings..? Bought some little stainless flat topped bolts, took some bodywork to my paint shop and got them to match the colour, sprayed up the bolts. Looks OK. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blatman Posted August 1, 2002 Share Posted August 1, 2002 Fair enough. I stand by my feeling of both my cars, (which I drive almost every week, especially now as the blue one is running again.......), that I can't tell the difference in front end lift characteristics between the two. Maybe I'm just not good enough/trying hard enough to tell, maybe it isn't actually there. Whatever, I've never given any thought to front end lift from using flared wings, 'cos it's never been a factor for me, as far as I can tell.........Both my cars are IRS too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisbin Posted August 1, 2002 Share Posted August 1, 2002 What did you do with the holes previously used to mount the swept wings..? Bought some little stainless flat topped bolts, took some bodywork to my paint shop and got them to match the colour, sprayed up the bolts. Looks OK. Thats the problem - what to do with those holes..... Saw one when I was looking for a car that just seemed to have put the bolts back in........nice variation on a go faster stripe..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samcooke Posted August 1, 2002 Share Posted August 1, 2002 Yup, unless you're a master of gel coat the result will always be average rather than sexy. But I spose sexy isn't the point of our cars. Whhhhhap Whhhhaaaaaaap brrrmmmmm screeeeeeeeeech brrrrrrr chnk brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrmmmmmmm chnk brrr... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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