As I get more and more hooked on tracking my car, my mind is drawn to the idea of a big ass GT wing (or as my friends call them, "F U wings").
Right now I am sporting a NSX-R style wing made by Jetz, which is light and I like the fact it retains the led third light. I also like the idea that it was designed with wind tunnel input (or at least the oem one was). The worse part is the fact it bisects my rear vision. I have the DF NSXR flat under tray pieces (nose and battery tray, gas tank etc) terminating in a Taitec open diffuser. I try to have a completely flat underbody leading to the diffuser and am very happy with stability at speed. I have learned that the R wing only functions to reduce lift (along with the flat undertray), but does not generate usable downforce.
Personally I am not very crazy about the looks of the aerofoil on the back of a street car. It's big, obnoxious, and the fact that every FWD ricermobile seem to have one is a big turn off. However, I hope that my NSX being more and more a devoted track car will justify that. I have found out that the design of the wing itself makes a big difference in whether it works noticeable or not (duh). The Taitec is essentially useless. Big, heavy and rated as an "anchor" by one former owner.
TAITEC GT-500 (form over function):
Billy Johnson of FXMD (famous for his green and black time attack winner) says "The trailing edge of Taitec GT500 is soo steep (pretty much vertical -not a true airfoil) that the wing will stall out at very low speeds resulting in a ton of drag and not much downward force".
In the functional wings category we have the APR:
My only beef with this is the fact it desn't look very pretty just mounted on the trunklid like that. I'd like to fill in and blend the base with the bodywork.
My second choice is the Sorcery:
Third choice is the Gruppe M, which is discontinued.
John@Microsoft says: "Obviously a big ass wing, albeit it the Taitec or Doug H's home-made mongo aluminum home depot one will produce effective downforce on a road course. Like putting your hand out the window... that's probably the easy part.
However, every wing design is a balance. What separates a highly optimized computer modeled tunnel tested design from a poor garage tuner design is being maximally effective while minimizing drag so you get the best of both. Further, having it co-exist well with the rest of the vehicle's aerodynamic characteristics and perhaps most sought prove well in the field for the intended course speeds/application/driver.
All wings are not created equal. Their are low speed high down-force configurations, multi-element high speed airfoils, multi-surface designs such as a sprint car wing, etc... Even the little end plates and wing mounts design play their part in the effectiveness of the system as a whole.
An interesting trivial point, but from what little I have read historically, they banned mounting wings directly to the lower suspension members, fan cars, and other active aero devices simply because they were so ridiculously effective.. so now all series specify the mount must be to the chassis and a great part of pro R&D goes into simple wing design. Per an issue of Race Car Engineering, in Formula 1, even the composite material layering is optimized via FEA to allow just the perfect amount of flexibility across the span so as to reduce the designs effectiveness at high triple digit straight line speeds as that is 'free' per their rules".
The one I decided on is the one currently on Scorp965's red Turbo NSX. He's selling his car, parting it out and moving on to an Aston Martin.
It is the Voltex Type IV with the molded trunk base piece, Gurney Flap (which creates a small vortex on the trailing edge that generates more downforce) and end plates.
This is the actual wing:
Peter Lau has the same wing but with shorter stands and wants the taller ones I'm getting. I'll have to see once it is installed which ones I prefer. My wife hates the wing but says it's my call. Thanks babe!
