TrackSpec Hood Louvers

[CounterSpace Garage]

One of the major challenges with the FT86, is the ability to extract heat out of the engine bay. While a stock car that is street driven doesn't have any problems staying within normal operating temperatures, cars that are Forced Induction, or are driven hard on the track often have overheating issues.

Another occurrence the more spirited drivers may have noticed, is that the stock hood "flaps" at higher speeds. There is a lot of air trapped under the hood, and to escape, the air wobbles the stock hood, escaping out the side. This produces a few undesirable effects: extra drag, front end lift, and a general feeling of uneasyness about the hood staying in place.


CSG is proud to introduce the TrackSpec Motorsports Hood Louver/Heat Extractor Vents for the FRS/BRZ/GT86.

A major design hurdle was finding a proper model of the FRS/BRZ/GT86 to perform CFD analysis to determine the effectiveness of the hood. Such analysis is often performed, but CSG and TrackSpec discovered that all of the commonly available models had some major flaws: they all assume a flat underbody, and they do not model inside the engine bay at all! With such a flawed model, the analysis would also be heavily flawed, so we set about seeking to make our own model. Unfortunately, with the budget we have, it was impossible to laser scan such a complex shape (the underbody, and more importantly, the engine bay) to get the level of accuracy we sought.

This led us to use the flawed models, with some modifications, to attempt to simulate airflow through the engine bay. This data, being flawed, was taken with a grain of salt, and was used only to try different shapes, angles, and sizes of vents, which would ultimately be verified with real world testing. Due to the complexity of the actual car, real world testing would be the only feasible way to get accurate measurements (we don't have the budget for windtunnel testing... sorry!).

The end result of this testing, is the vent pictured below. The vent is designed to drop into the stock hood, and does several things:

- an overall 43% drop in under-hood pressure at highway speeds
- a 60% drop in under-hood pressure at 120mph!
- A net front downforce (we had to add wing angle during testing to balance the now-grippier front)
- Increased cooling (less pressure under the hood = more air flowing through the radiator; more air being extracted = more air flowing through the radiator)

The above claims were verified with real-world data, and tested at Willow Springs Intentional Raceway, aka "The Fastest in the West" at speeds up to 130mph under race conditions.

MSRP is $329.99, and are now available at http://counterspacegarage.com/produc...-frs-gt86.html

[JoeC]

Nice real world testing. You have pretty specific measurements of the reduction on pressure but nothing on temperature?

[CSG Mike]

Originally Posted by JoeC

Nice real world testing. You have pretty specific measurements of the reduction on pressure but nothing on temperature?

Unfortunately, the CSG car is already properly cooled, so no hard numbers; it doesn't overheat to begin with.

We did do some testing for anecdotal evidence; we disconnected our fans completely, and still didn't overheat during the sessions. With the stock hood, or even one of the Seibon vented hoods, the car normally will overheat within a lap on stock fans.

[Decay107]

Originally Posted by CSG Mike

Unfortunately, the CSG car is already properly cooled, so no hard numbers; it doesn't overheat to begin with.

We did do some testing for anecdotal evidence; we disconnected our fans completely, and still didn't overheat during the sessions. With the stock hood, or even one of the Seibon vented hoods, the car normally will overheat within a lap on stock fans.

I'm confused, fans should barely affect the cooling efficiency of a moving car at all. Hell, I know a bunch of guys (on different platforms) who elect to run track only cars with no fans installed as they tend to be a restriction at speed.

[CSG Mike]

Originally Posted by Decay107

I'm confused, fans should barely affect the cooling efficiency of a moving car at all. Hell, I know a bunch of guys (on different platforms) who elect to run track only cars with no fans installed as they tend to be a restriction at speed.

Powerful fans can pull more air through the radiator, than can be pushed through naturally at speed. The fans on the CSG car are so powerful that they require their own relay and independent power source (60 amps!)

Race cars, that have a fully evacuated/stripped/tucked engine bay, can run without a fan, but street cars cannot.

A stock FRS, without fans, would not survive at the track, because air can't go through the radiator very well, when there is a build up of pressure inside the engine bay. That pressure buildup is primarily what these vents are designed for, and the hosing you see on the car is connected to manometer (manometers measure pressure).

[JoeC]

Originally Posted by CSG Mike

Powerful fans can pull more air through the radiator, than can be pushed through naturally at speed. The fans on the CSG car are so powerful that they require their own relay and independent power source (60 amps!)

Race cars, that have a fully evacuated/stripped/tucked engine bay, can run without a fan, but street cars cannot.

A stock FRS, without fans, would not survive at the track, because air can't go through the radiator very well, when there is a build up of pressure inside the engine bay. That pressure buildup is primarily what these vents are designed for, and the hosing you see on the car is connected to manometer (manometers measure pressure).

Wow! yeah, I guess the CSG car wouldn't have cooling issues.

[Northwest86]

Are we able to see an under the bonnet pic. Really interested in the structural strength and how it is maintained as it appears that it is cut out. Our state is just really finicky about structural changes.

[kikew]

Nice design. But I wonder where the water goes when its raining. Can we see a picture from underneath?

[CSG Mike]

We'll have some pictures for you shortly. Everyone is at the track so there is nobody around to take a picture of the underside of the hood

[DeliciousTuning]

About time someone released a vented hood solution with some actual thought behind it!

Sincerely,

Zach

[CSG Mike]

As promised.

[plucas]

Originally Posted by CSG Mike

Powerful fans can pull more air through the radiator, than can be pushed through naturally at speed. The fans on the CSG car are so powerful that they require their own relay and independent power source (60 amps!)

The only fans that can flow large amounts of air that I have seen are mechanical fans. The most powerful Spal fan that I can find flows 2000cfm at 0 mm of H2O (which isn't realistic because there will be pressure drop). The air flow decreases at a higher pressure drop (mm of H2O). The air flow would be closer to 1500cfm depending on the core design. The ft86 core flows 3000cfm at a realistic 14mph of airflow though the radiator.

[CSG Mike]

Originally Posted by plucas

The only fans that can flow large amounts of air that I have seen are mechanical fans. The most powerful Spal fan that I can find flows 2000cfm at 0 mm of H2O (which isn't realistic because there will be pressure drop). The air flow decreases at a higher pressure drop (mm of H2O). The air flow would be closer to 1500cfm depending on the core design. The ft86 core flows 3000cfm at a realistic 14mph of airflow though the radiator.

Under ideal condition, yes. In real world conditions.... not so much.

We use two of these. https://webstore.spalusa.com/content..._2038_SPEC.pdf

At about 275whp, we were overheating the car quite easily. Swap the stock shroud with a CSG shroud (or any shroud that fits really), two of those fans, and voila, zero heat issues. As you stated, we have quite a bit of restriction in front of the fan, so we use the fan that maintains the most flow under pressure.

As an aside, the CSG s2k, with about 450whp, overheated with the stock fans on the stock radiator, at the track. That's obviously predictable. Without any fans the car still overheats. Add *one* of these Spal fans, and zero heat issues. We even added it to the passenger side of the radiator, which is the less ideal solution due to the S2k's radiator design (inlet about 70% of the way to the passenger side, outlet on the driver side).

Often times, real world results trump theory, especially when we're talking street cars with street car cooling systems, rather than the fully sealed and ducted systems often seen on race cars.

I've lost count of how many overheating FI cars have come to us and had their issues solved with just a simple fan shroud and powerful fan setup. Vents further enhance the effectiveness, just by allowing more air to flow, whether the powerful fans are present or not.

[plucas]

Originally Posted by CSG Mike

Under ideal condition, yes. In real world conditions.... not so much.

We use two of these. https://webstore.spalusa.com/content..._2038_SPEC.pdf

At about 325whp, we were overheating the car quite easily. Swap the stock shroud with a CSG shroud (or any shroud that fits really), two of those fans, and voila, zero heat issues. As you stated, we have quite a bit of restriction in front of the fan, so we use the fan that maintains the most flow under pressure.

As an aside, the CSG s2k, with about 450whp, overheated with the stock fans on the stock radiator, at the track. That's obviously predictable. Without any fans the car still overheats. Add *one* of these Spal fans, and zero heat issues. We even added it to the passenger side of the radiator, which is the less ideal solution due to the S2k's radiator design (inlet about 70% of the way to the passenger side, outlet on the driver side).

Often times, real world results trump theory, especially when we're talking street cars with street car cooling systems, rather than the fully sealed and ducted systems often seen on race cars.

I've lost count of how many overheating FI cars have come to us and had their issues solved with just a simple fan shroud and powerful fan setup. Vents further enhance the effectiveness, just by allowing more air to flow, whether the powerful fans are present or not.

If you aren't getting proper airflow through your radiator, that sounds like a design problem. Fans are a bandaid to the real problem. I am talking theory and real world experience. I have seen many many many racecars running without fans around the track. It is about proper airflow.

I am not saying fans won't fix an issue, but fans will not outflow normal flow through a radiator.