Ferrari's underbody work

[Kerrath]

This thread existed long before I did in the e30 world, but I can't help but wonder why one would need 1/4" thick CF. Why not some thick(ish) aluminum sheeting?

Also, people were talking about the bricklike effect of e30s on one of the first pages from years back, but iirc, the e30 drag coefficient is like .32 whereas a lot of modern cars are hardly less. For example my dad's 2000 impala is .31

It's a good enough idea, but I personally don't care enough.

[E30Kaiser]

Psh, there are 2.4L's that go 250mph, you guys are just being crazy.

[nando]

beside, the higher the speed, the more exponential horse power you need. Otherwise the veyron would go like 1000mph

now you're being jurastic

lol

[///M42 sport]

beside, the higher the speed, the more exponential horse power you need. Otherwise the veyron would go like 1000mph

[nando]

The Alpina b10s has 360hp and its capable of 180mph. So I think 1000+ is a little jurastic

quote from 6 years ago FTL

I'd like to see a verified, 360hp E30 hitting 180mph.. It's not like there aren't plenty of 300-400hp E30s running around these days.

[619E30]

1000+

even cars with lots of horsepower top out around 170, and those are usually 500+hp cars. I think stu said he hit 155, which is moving in our cars!

I don't think it would be a good idea even if you could.

The Alpina b10s has 360hp and its capable of 180mph. So I think 1000+ is a little jurastic

[///M42 sport]

naw since the mt2 is like 2 spoilers in one, so 50x2=100mpg

[nando]

I don't know, is the MT2 classified as a spoiler or a wing? It's probably more effective anyway, but who knows by how much.

[E30Kaiser]

What about my massive MT2 spoiler on top of it, that should be like 50mpg right?

[nando]

the "is" trunk spoiler should also improve mileage by 1-2%. They work by reducing drag on the car by breaking the turbulence behind the trunk.

[///M42 sport]

My objective was to increase mpg on the highway. Not much can be done in the city except for changing driving habits.

I hope to try the coroplast as soon as I have free time. I was thinking the spare tire area and the engine bay.

BTW in comparing mpg's with a IS spoiler to w/o there is a 1-2 mpg diff. Its pretty amazing how a 2in spoiler up front has so much affect on efficiency.

[Hallen]

The OP assumes that you can get something for nothing. If you increase downforce, you are also going to increase induced drag. The downforce is a benefit on a race car, but notsomuch on a street car. It's just going to decrease your fuel mileage and you will get little to no benefit because you'll never go fast enough for the downforce to be effective.

For most E30's, if you can reduce the under-car turbulence and clean up the airflow as it leaves the back of the car, you will get some nice benefit in reducing drag. This will help with fuel mileage and top speed. But it would be tough to do. Heat dissipation and ground clearance would be major issues.

Race cars can be somewhat deceiving in what they do. Some series/leagues require a mostly flat bottomed car to keep teams from using "ground effects", which is basically what the OP was talking about. The best form of ground effects are tunnels built into the undertray that create a venturi (think of two basically hour glass shaped tunnels). Then, you add a diffuser at that back of the car to slow that air back down and reduce the turbulence as the air expands back out again. This both increases downforce and reduces some of the parasitic drag. This type of setup on an E30 would be very difficult to design.

[Stephen]

Interesting. Doesnt look like something id probably do unless it were a splitter with a few inches of undertray. I'm in for more low and MPG though. ;)

[///M42 sport]

^^ cool let us know

Also didnt some e30s come with a tranny cover?

[europeanplates]

I am not sure if this was brought up but the M3 does have some underside panles around the spare and such.

I use coroplast daily and it would most likely work.

Tyler