A twin to Greg's wing

Well Kirk, you asked for it and Greg is anticipating getting his own. So here are the first pictures of Brook's effort to make a top quality wing for ST-U/L.

https://improvedtouring.com...&pictureid=545

https://improvedtouring.com...&pictureid=544

It took him a bit longer than anticipated to come up with this wing. The tricky part is the sharp leading edge profile. To get this the skins are molded in an autoclave from dry carbon. They don't have the classic shiney surface that the end plates and uprights have becasue of the dry carbon layup, but this is why they are so stiff and light.

Tres chic.

< goes to look at GCR for STL hatchback wing mount rules >

K

I think this is the apropriate section:

c. The entire rear wing assembly, including the end plates and
any wicker, shall be mounted a minimum of 6.0 inches below
the peak of the roof

or roll cage main hoop whichever is higher,
measured at the highest point. Cars with a wagonback/notchback/
hatchback style body may have the rear wing assembly,
including the end plates and any wicker, mounted a maximum
of 4.0 inches above the highest point of the roof. For this
subsection, a wagonback/notchback/hatchback style body
(or variations of these) is a car in which the rear edge of the
roofline is no more than 28.0 inches forward of the rearmost

bodywork as measured along the vehicle longitudinal centerline.

Nice but...I think the wingy-thing is going to have to wait for 2013; there's only 3 weekends left before leaving for Road America, and all three of those have been spoken for. I've got a real engineering exercise on my hands to install that, as I've got a Fiberglas hatch with no structure underneath. Add to that the complexity of having only about 14" total vertical space to deal with*, between the top of the roof and the top of the hatch.

Just too many priorities between trying to do all the other prep and dealing with "real life"... - GA

* Regs requires wing to be 6" below peak of roof. I've got 14" height difference between the hatch and the roof peak. Assuming around 3-4" endplate height means the rear wing needs to be ~4" off the deck. I'm now wondering how effective that will be, and whether it's worth the effort/expense...which is why I don't just want to throw this thing on and go.

I totally f*****d myself when I clarified that hatchback rule this year, defining a "hatchback" by the longitudinal difference. But I knew that going in, so no surprises there...here's a pic before I replaced the hatch with Fiberglas/Lexan; the pen line halfway down that board is 6":

http://i1201.photobucket.com/albums/...c/IMG_0050.jpg

Damn Greg, yours is made out of lexan?? :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by seckerich

Damn Greg, yours is made out of lexan?? :D

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Whatevuh! Some kinda polycarbonate... ;)

At least it's not Plexigrass :D

Seriously Greg, the wing will still work great, because of how it'll affect air flow under the car as well as behind it. Can't speak to the structure you'll need with your new hatch other than you'll need that structure to keep the hatch in place anyway.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Z3_GoCar

...you'll need that structure to keep the hatch in place anyway.

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Negative, been running all year without it...works great.

Guess what was in a long box leaning up against my garage wall this morning...?

A Digital Mechatronic Turbo Entabulator??

I mounted mine up this weekend and drilled the holes. With my uprights, I've got about four inches more I could raise the wing. I suspect there's an ideal spacing between wind and trunk body, similar to a biplane, that allows the bottom of the wing to interact with the trunk lid.

You didn't go for the swan mount?? Thats sexier than socks on a rooster!!!:026:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DoubleXL240Z

You didn't go for the swan mount?? Thats sexier than socks on a rooster!!!:026:

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I agree, Brooks does a great job with his swan mount... I'll stick with the conventional mount for now, this will be way better than without. I'm thinking about making a new splitter with kevlar/carbon on foam, but I'd like to see what the current splitter is like before I pull the plugs.