Speaking of air dams, Porsche in the late 60's early 70's had a car up at
VIR where the whole body was a movable wedge. Down the straits, the car
looked normal. When the brakes were applied, the whole body was mounted to a
type of piston and would raise up to create a larger wedge in the air. I
think it was also outlawed the next year!
Mike Faggart
----- Original Message -----
From: "RWM" <RWM@rwmann.com>
To: "William Schairer" <wschaibe@ucsd.edu>
Cc: <datsun-roadsters@autox.team.net>
Sent: Thursday, August 30, 2001 9:33 AM
Subject: Re: aerodynamics of racing?
> The 1970 Chaparral 2J and 1978 Brabham BT46B used "active aerodynamics"
> (as FIA termed them) -- we would term them "fans" -- to evacuate the
> underside of the car and produce downforce. Both were banned, the
> Chapparal from Can Am and the Brabham from F1.
>
> - Bob Mann
>
> William Schairer wrote:
> >
> > Wasn't there some guy, Jim Hall maybe, who designed an indy car that
> > actually sucked the air out from underneath the car to create a
> > vacuum. Even though I have never been into racing much, I remember
> > it being a big controversy. In the only race of that type I've ever
> > been to, I saw it race at Ontario back in the late 60's. The car
> > didn't finish and I think was banned the next year.
> >
> > Bill
> > San Diego
>
> --
> R.W. Mann & Company, Inc. > Airline Industry Analysis and Consulting
> Port Washington, NY 11050 > tel 516-944-0900, fax 516-944-7280
> mailto:info@RWMann.com > URL http://www.RWMann.com/
|