Quote:
Originally Posted by Greg S
Absolutely regarding taking weigh off the front of the car, something I've played around with on the scales. I'll be publishing some numbers in the next 2 months or so of a wing mounted ~2" behind the body line vs one that's mounted ~16" behind the body line. One of the advantages of running it further rearward is that you can run several fewer degrees AOA to achieve the same downforce numbers at the rear axle versus having it mounted over the trunk lid. The wing also gets in cleaner air the further back and higher up you mount it. Both of these lead to less drag for the same amount of downforce.
Another "+1" to having balanced aero, I see a lot of cars in the paddock running a rear wing with way too much AOA/downforce relative to the amount of front downforce they're creating, leading to a lot of high speed understeer.
-Greg S
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I agree that further back and higher allows you to have similar rear downforce with less drag, but there's never a free lunch and the trade-off is unloading the front of the car. Also, the higher you mount the wing, the longer the drag-inducing uprights will be and most uprights are wide, thick, and often not parallel -which GREATLY increases drag. I have not seen very many good upright designs for track day cars.
For most people a good rule of thumb is to get a thin upright that's parallel and mount the wing ~ roof height.