Hey Stephen,

I noticed you retained the factory Ground Effects on your camaro. Was curious on your opinion, I'm bolting some TransAM ground effects on my formula.. Think i'll loose much in the 1/4 from weight, and drag? or think it won't be noticeable at all? I doubt it would help things, unless you can convince me otherwise?

Thats the only thing depressing me about finishing doing it. I got the nose bolted on but I'm all worried about running a mph or two slower, or a tenth or worse..

Anyone else of course, welcome to jump in. I searched the archives but I came back with 50,000 results of crap and no tech
as usual.

-- Joe

 

If I was desperate about shaving more weight off the car then I'd ditch the ground effects. There's probably 20-30 pounds in fiberglass I don't really need. The main reason I still have them is that the car is an IROC and I like the look of the effects.

I had to trim the part behind the rear tires for tire clearance. Then don't wrap around the inside of the fender any more.

I doubt installing effects on a car would help the ET. It just adds more weight which should slow you down.

 

Hey Stephen,

The weight thing I kinda figured. I'm more curious as to drag, etc.. The nose I was running before was your regular formula nose. THe T/A nose has more frontal are. i'm curious how severe it could hurt in the 1/4..


Have you done things like ripped out your air dam?

I know you run skinny's up front. How much do they help?

-- Joe

 

Although it may add a little to the frontal area it should stop the air flow from going under the car where it can cause turbulance.

? you mean the plastic piece that directs the air up to the rad? It's gone but I have an aluminum one made to replace it.

Less rolling resistance and less weight. You don't need a heavy wide tire on the front of a drag car.

Unless you start getting above 150 mph in the 1/4 mile, aerodynamics are not going to be a big factor unless the car is a brick to start with. A third gen will cut through the air a lot better than a first gen. There's a SuperGas 92 TransAm that races here from time to time. He runs low 9's and has full ground effects. He also has a complete tube chassis and backhalf. The whole car must weight less than 2500 pounds.

 

Hey Stephen,

The problem is my car is a pig.. With the IRON Sportsman II heads, and the supercharger, sfc's, and so on.. 3600lbs with me in it..

I'm thinking fiberglass hood might shed 40-50 lbs, and skinnies when racing.

Mind you its a street car, I change wheels anyway when racing.. I'm hardly getting traction with the 26-8.5 slicks now, street tires would be anightmare.

Last run was 12.7 @ 110. I couldn't get it to stick in any gear. I figure, with the right traction, I should do much better if I can get some of this weight off..

>
> Although it may add a little to the frontal area it should stop
> the air flow from going under the car where it can cause
> turbulance.


Hrmm. Wonder if it will cause the starter to get even HOTTER.. hrmm.


-- Joe