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Technical Paper

The Effects of Wing Aerodynamics on Race Vehicle Performance

2002-12-02
2002-01-3294
An analytical study is presented to determine the effects of wing aerodynamics on various racecar performance characteristics and on lap times for different types of tracks. The North Carolina State University (NCSU) Formula SAE car is used as the racing vehicle for this study. The study integrates design and analysis methods for airfoils and wings with performance-simulation methods for the racecar. Various performance parameters are considered to study in detail the effects on different portions of the track. A single wing is first used to examine the effects of aerodynamic downforce on car performance without considerations of the fore-and-aft location of the aerodynamic center of pressure. Subsequently a traditional dual-wing setup with a front and a rear wing is used to study the effect of downforce while satisfying a constraint on the location of the aerodynamic center of pressure.
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