Posts Tagged ‘Aerodynamics’

MX5 Hillclimb car

Friday, April 27th, 2012

We’ve been building this hillclimb car for Practical Performance Car Magazine. The full details of the build will be available to read over the next few months. PPC mag have an event called the 999 challenge. The idea is to build the best MoT passable car you can for 999 quid and carry out  a timed quarter mile and handling course. The fastest car wins. We decided to take the concept a step further and see if we could build a hill climb car for full competition still sticking to the 999 pound budget. The list of modifications is massive. We reduced the weight by about 20% which is hard going on a car that’s so light to start with. With all the weight stripped out we built a cage that not only keeps the driver safe but adds to the shells rigidity. The engine received a turbo and anti lag system including launch control and flat shift. It also features a hydrogen gas system for better combustion and a cold water spray for the intercooler. We carried out a few suspension and brake modifications and thoroughly set the cars geometry to give it perfect handling. The aerodynamics were last to be addressed and are controlled tightly by the regulations. We designed an aero package that other than the allowed rear spoiler didn’t change the cars silhouette. We achieved this with a flat underfloor, undercut splitter and a rear diffuser than uses a cut out into the rear bumper. The rear aero is fed by the exhaust gases between the spoiler and the diffuser which aid flow attachment. There’s still some fine tuning to be done but it should be an awesome package on a very tight budget

Ford Capri gets more aerodynamics

Friday, April 27th, 2012

The AA Silencers Ford Capri is always getting little developments here and there. Because of a change in championship regulations we have been able to develop a new front splitter and diffuser. The device is designed to control the airflow to the under body section. The splitter harvests pressure ahead of the car to create downforce. Further back air is accelerated to create downforce towards the middle of the car. The new front section controls the air in stages to manage its flow. It is also designed to create vortices along the underbody to seal the floor section and improve downforce. It’s not a perfect design as we have to work within the regulations but it vastly improves lap times. Also fitted are a type of dive plane in front of the rear wheel. Unlike regular dive planes these are mostly to deflect air from the exposed portion of the the tyre.

VX carbon goodies

Wednesday, March 30th, 2011

This VX happened to be passing by in search of someone brave enough to tackle a job turned down by other garages, fitting his diffuser. It was a custom made piece but many garages don’t know what one is, let alone how to fit it. In actually fact it’s only held on with about 12 screws and took 10 minutes to fit. Since then we’ve helped with several more day to day things like checking his brakes and servicing.

Radical Improvements

Thursday, October 7th, 2010

Here’s a car that divides opinions, normally depending on whether you’re male or female. Most men seem to reckon it’s a thing of beauty, most women seem to disagree. One thing you couldn’t argue is it’s speed, these things are rapid. The formula is simple, take one super lightweight chassis, stick a motorbike engine in it and add a load of aerodynamics for grip. Radical really got it right with these cars and there success has been tremendous, including lap records and the Nurburgring  circuit in Germany. This particular car has been having some difficulties with it’s exhaust. The header pipes on the exhaust manifold kick back around the engine and locate into collectors. The pipes keep coming loose and have cracked in several places so new sleeves have been added and the joints repaired. Less than a days work and the car is back on track frightening the locals, and probably the driver too.

How to get rid of rust and make your car faster

Friday, June 11th, 2010

As AA Silencers is busy with Practical Performance Car Magazines racing efforts this year our Capri is not needed on track.  We decided this would be a good time to give it a bit of a freshen up and try to squeeze out a bit more speed. As always the main item on the agenda was weight saving but also to improve the aerodynamics and get rid of the rust that can creep in to any older car.

The solution was simple, identify any bits of the car you don’t need and cut them off, especially if there’s any rust in them. The shell has been multipointed and the cag extended and a complete new aero underfloor has been designed. There’s a huge amount of work to do but it shoudl be worth it when the car gets back on track. Here’s some pictures for the mean time

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AA Silencers-gives you wiiiings

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

The Capri has been resting over the winter but development has slowly been taking place. lighter rear brakes have been developed and some more weight has been trimmed from the shell. Wider wheels have been added and some modifications were required to get them in and still be able to turn the wheel! All of the glass bar the windscreen has now been binned in favour of plastic which again is a huge saving in weight and even the wing mirrors have shruk in the name of weight loss and better aero efficiency. The aero package has extended further than the mirrors though and the car now has a front air damn and rear wing, plus a few other cunning tweeks here and there. Now it’s time for more power so we’ve got a new engine in development which will hopefully give us an extra 100BHP or so. Fingers crossed

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