James Nazarian Jr wrote:
>
> not that it is a direct relation, but I have read that rear "wings"
> (the ones they like to fit to american cars) don't start to come into
> effect until 80-90mph. I would suspect that the same would basically
> hold true for a front wing. I doubt that you would feel anything from
> the air dam until then.
>
Thanks for all the comments, I think I will answer by noting my
experiences to date. As Steward at a SuperKart meeting today I had to
drive 30 miles or so out of town on roads that permitted me to do 70mph
(well, this is just a little over the speed limit, but...).
My initial feelings were that, at the lower, normal driving speeds I
can't say that I felt anything different at all, but at the high end of
the speed range (70mph) I experienced a few things. On the way to the
track in calm conditions the front end felt a tiny bit heavier but only
just so you might notice - nothing that felt as if I was "sticking to
the road". I really felt the effect, though, when I changed lanes or
passed another car at higher than that speed. Pulling quickly across
gave me a feeling of 'sliding sideways' with little body roll. It felt
really quite direct and made me want to go faster to feel the effect
more. It was certainly noticeable but not dramatic.
On the negative side, maybe there is something I can do in the fitting
but I also noticed a very rapid vibration at 60/65mph that did not feel
like a wheel balance/alignment thing. It vibrated the car (and rear
view mirror) but was not really noticeable through the steering wheel.
I am putting this down to wind vibration of the spoiler (vibrating the
body of the car and not the wheels).
On the way home in the evening and in quite blustery conditions I seemed
to feel more vibration and even got the thing 'humming' quite strongly -
so much that it initially sounded like the car was over-revving
(compared to the speed I was doing) and it took a good long hard look at
the tacho to reassure myself that this was not the case. I dropped the
revs/speed and the sound remained constant until the speed really fell
off and then it stopped.
I actually liked the feel of the thing (as little as the effect was) but
the noises bugged me... you tend to really listen for little sounds and
things when you have made changes to your car and maybe I will get over
this - IF this was the cause of the noise - or will find a way to damp
it.
More investigation is needed so I will reserve judgement. As far as my
aim of cooling the engine more... well, she kept her cool at speed, but
really seems to be getting quite hot (hotter than previously) when
stopped (at lights, etc. after the hard drive). This electric fan thing
is now strating to bug me :-)
Eric
'68MGB MkII
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