what is the function of the black flat thingy under the nose of this viper? my thought on aerodynamics is what if you got a huge sheet of like 1/16" steel and cut it to fit the bottom of you car from bumper to bumper and rocker to rocker so it's completely flat underneath? except maybe cut slots for rear and driveshaft. racecars are built like that and I think it'd be interesting to try on our cars

 

I'll bet its not flat... at least not if its functional.

Look at it as a separator, to make the initial split through the air before the front of the car hits it. Probably reduces the drag coefficient of the car slightly, and if its not completely flat (or more to the point, not level with the ground) it'll provide a small amount of downforce. That is if its functional anyway. Could just be a piece of plastic attached to the car that someone thought looked good.

 

People do that with the sheet metal, excapt they don't use thick steel like that since it would add a couple of hundred pounds... usually aluminum or plastic

That front air dam kickout makes the air go ove the top of the car instead of under it. It's a downforce thing on a race car. Looks like nothing more than a parking spot bumper feeler on a street car though. I bet the one in the pic hasn't been on that car for more than 2 days of real-world driving.

 

well i think it's definitely functional, that's a twin turbo hennesy venom. on our cars, since the bottom of the nose slants up would one of those fins create lift instead of downforce? there was a camaro i saw a pic of that raced out at the salt flats and had one of them on it.

 

Thats called a chin spoiler, and it is very functional at speed. It creates massive amount of down force on the front of the car, providing greater handiling and performance. I am thinking of building one for my camaro using fiberglass.

 

That's the first thing I thought of when I saw that pic. "Bumper Guard"

 

but won't it create lift due to the slope of the bottom of our noses? it's like sticking your hand out the window on the highway, if you tilt the leading edge up, your hand gets pushed up. it seems that's what would happen with a chin spoiler on a thirdgen

 

My understanding of what that thing is, is that it's there to split the air and direct as much as possible up over the body and around the body. This being done because air under the body will generate lift absent some kind of a venturi like an Indy car has. Also, the underside of the car is generally quite dirty aerodynamically speaking. Well, that's what I always thought. Some cars have underbody pans that clean things up quite a bit, but you still need to allow for the movement of the suspension etc.

Dan's $.02

 

Train, you should check out some pics of IROC cars (actual IROC cars, not the production ones with the badge) and look at their fascia treatment, you can see how to improve the aero aspects of these quite a bit. But of course if you think your fascia drags on curbs and driveways now, just imagine what it would be like with the real thing.

http://www.irocracing.com/History/19...hoto_album.htm
http://www.irocracing.com/History/19...hoto_album.htm