GreigM Posted July 13, 2012 Posted July 13, 2012 Whatever you call them, do they do anything positive? If not why did Caterham fit them to the R500? Quote
SteveD Posted July 13, 2012 Posted July 13, 2012 http://aprperformanc...per_canards.jpg taken from http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=1&sqi=2&ved=0CFMQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FCanard_(aeronautics)&ei=jokAUM6dFOmo0QWe_bCEBw&usg=AFQjCNEMMKIhqzIoUidSZC-cO9Uo2lWSMw&sig2=W4V5nBiAcfPsglj6sAlgHA Quote
Blatman Posted July 13, 2012 Posted July 13, 2012 Always an interesting question and no doubt and argument will ensue, but here's the thing. I KNOW that when a canard / dive plane is fitted to a race car (which is where they come from) the vehicle spends many hours in the wind tunnel and testing to optimize the shape, size, angle and profile of the piece. Blagging a mold and knocking out copies for sale to any car enthusiast is fine but the results may not be as expected... When fitting an aero device there are sooo many variables that simply bolting on a generic part that's never seen the inside of a wind tunnel is likely to make no improvement at best. Firstly, is the actual shape / aero profile appropriate for the vehicle? Is it mounted at the correct height? Is it mounted at the correct angle? Can the structure it's mounted to deal with the extra forces placed upon it's mounts? How do you balance the rear end? Same question goes for fitting ARB's. Always fit them in pairs... And that's off the top of my head. Quote
stephenh Posted July 13, 2012 Posted July 13, 2012 You have canards on your head? Now that really is something! :d Quote
Norman Verona Posted July 14, 2012 Posted July 14, 2012 My neighbour was always going on holiday. I tackled the wife on how they could afford so many holidays. "My husband works for Cunard" Well, I work fu*king hard as well but I can't afford more than one holiday. Quote
Jenko Posted July 14, 2012 Posted July 14, 2012 I always thought they were to deflect some air away from the wishbone to chassis area which is causes drag. That could well be b*****k though!. Quote
Blatman Posted July 14, 2012 Posted July 14, 2012 They may well do that, but they will generate their own aerodynamic forces. Air boiling off the edges will swirl around and there is no way, short of a wind tunnel (or string and a video camera...) to work out exactly how the air flow behaves once it leaves the dive plane. Given the suspension area behind it it's not beyond the realms of possibility that they cause lift by creating a low presure area right by the inner part of the wheel / suspension area. Maybe they could affect the cooling of the brakes, or disturb air going in to the carbs/injector bodies. Who knows? It's not just the fact that many people will blindly believe they improve handling. They might, they might not, but what are the effects elsewhere on the car? Quote
combatsapph Posted July 14, 2012 Posted July 14, 2012 (edited) Carbon mods ones on mine - didn't fit them for aero purposes :-) Edited July 14, 2012 by combatsapph Quote
alexander72 Posted July 14, 2012 Posted July 14, 2012 I might make some out of a nice piece of Yew.....Norman - love that for cunard joke - V funny... Quote
stephenh Posted July 14, 2012 Posted July 14, 2012 My Carbon Mods ones are mounted a bit higher than combatsapph's, and maybe a bit shallower, to deflect air over the headlamp mounting brackets. No idea if they achieve any measurable advantage, probably not, but they look good, and Carbon Mods supplied and fitted them as a discount on a pair of their CSR style cycle wings. Now the wings definitely did achieve their purpose, so overall it was a good deal. Unfortunately you can't get the products from Carbon Mods now. They do other types of Carbon with much higher margins. Quote
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