Quote:
Originally Posted by fatoni
the only reason i bothered mentioning the lift/downforce thing is because cars are shaped like aerofoils and have lift inherently. i think its important to talk about them separately because at any net amount of lift (positive or negative) you can have any drag coeffecient. adding downforce and removing things causing lift can be different.
there is some confusion going on here. we arent talking about the same things. i understand the importance of downforce and the grip that is provided. i was addressing the thought that running smaller tires would be a good idea in order to keep the drag coeffecient down. i was just saying that i would rather have mechanical grip over dropping a hundredth or so off the cod.
i also think aero grip is equally wasted if you are going wot. there are many people running around in miatas with 275s and in nearly every situation the miata with 225s is faster than the one with 195s. i do get your point though but wonder if it might be turning into a historical kinda myth. i think newer compounds are making the optimal tire width greater than they used to be but thats just speculation on my part.
|
No. There is only a single force: lift. If it is positive it pushes up. If it's negative it pushes down. It's that simple.
You can't 'add downforce' with a giant wing if the net lift is still positive. It may seem like semantics but it's important to think of the whole system.