| Cars are only capable of 3
things; they can accelerate, brake and turn. Race cars use these
features at the cars maximum ability which makes them fast. They even
increase this ability by modifying the body or adding parts in order to
out perform the manufacturers specifications.
One of the best qualities of the GB400R is the aero dynamic features
built into the car. All of the lines, air inlets, wing and front
splitter have a purpose, to make the car faster!
Sam Gladney being an airplane pilot while designing the car, he realized
that there are many features that can be used in the car in order to
make a better handling car as well as more efficient just by using the
air flow. "If you look at the car up close you will notice that
there are no hard turns or dead stop for the air slow down."
Said Sam, "Even the car's rear deck wing is designed as an
airplane wing set upside
down!"
| Aerodynamic--
relative to racing, aerodynamics is the engineering and
science of how air affects the car's handling, speed,
and overall performance. As air passes over a moving car
it creates drag and downforce.
Both are a function of the friction and turbulence of
the air as it passes over, under, and around the
vehicle. The goal in aerodynamic engineering is to
introduce enough downforce to increase the car's
cornering speeds without adding so much drag as to
penalize it's top speed. The right balance between the
two will produce the fastest possible lap times. Too
much downforce might improve cornering speeds, but limit
high-speed acceleration and top speed so that even with
fast corner speeds, there is an overall time loss. |
|
Common problems in race cars is overheating the brakes and getting
air rushed to the brakes is crucial. In most production cars it is
necessary to adapt air ducts in the front of the car and in most cases
its so close to the ground that it actually picks up hot air from the
track making it more difficult to cool the brakes.
Shown below is the functional brake cooling duct built into the body.
It picks up fresh air from the side of the car and is directed to the
brakes thru a built in tube. The tube actually becomes bigger after the
initial opening in order to keep the air from slowing down. Some race
cars have a brake duct that has a larger opening and then the tube is
reduced. This will actually slow the air down and create a parachute
effect....bad thing for a race car!
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