Color0's Micro RC Blog -- A technical brain dump from the mind of yours truly...
599XX: Flex and Aero Short Post
Lack of Internet last week, sorry guys.... anyways, new developments.
I recently got to run my 599 and Grant M's 599 back to back, and I noticed that while mine is WAY more stable in the rear end, Grant's loses only a little bit of rear end stability but gains a lot of front end traction, whether or not the front grill is opened up. The result of this was me getting owned at our Kenon "hot lap" battles, 8.036 vs. 7.852. Clearly I'm not happy about that so I've got work to do.
The main difference between our two body setups is that he tends to cut a lot of holes into the 599, but they're all small and out of the major airflow to be aerodynamically critical. Instead, I think that the cuts are creating flex. So at some point, I'm going to try those same cuts to make the body softer and get more mechanical grip out of my car. We've visited this theory a long time ago, with the 2007 Super GT 350Z body, as well as the new Audi R8 LMS which is super-flexible and, so far, looking extremely fast in Mod (Grant put down some 7.6xx at Kenon with the Autoscale!). But before that, I want to try getting more front steering without sacrificing the rear downforce advantage I have on Grant. Hence:
Hood vents are a proven method of reducing lift on the hood area -- the low-pressure bubble that normally forms on the hood will instead now pull air out from underneath the car, sucking the car down towards the ground. If the hood vents seem to work, we're going to go even further and cut out the big vents on the fenders. Then all the vents on the sides, as well as the gas cap, are next in line, etc. etc. All these cuts will make the 599 flex more, and thus, if my suspicions are correct, faster.
I also bothered to weigh my car for once, before and after the modification. I've now got both the PN double-A-arm front end AND the Reflex top cover, so the chassis is pretty dense and only the Lexan window is bringing everything in at 123.0g without batteries.
Cool news is, the hood vents cut out 0.5g so now we're actually at 122.5g. Plus batteries, I'm sitting at about 169.5g which means I need to add a little lead to the bottom of the car for big races (170g).
More to come! Hopefully next time I post I will have the laptimes to back up this little experiment.
I recently got to run my 599 and Grant M's 599 back to back, and I noticed that while mine is WAY more stable in the rear end, Grant's loses only a little bit of rear end stability but gains a lot of front end traction, whether or not the front grill is opened up. The result of this was me getting owned at our Kenon "hot lap" battles, 8.036 vs. 7.852. Clearly I'm not happy about that so I've got work to do.
The main difference between our two body setups is that he tends to cut a lot of holes into the 599, but they're all small and out of the major airflow to be aerodynamically critical. Instead, I think that the cuts are creating flex. So at some point, I'm going to try those same cuts to make the body softer and get more mechanical grip out of my car. We've visited this theory a long time ago, with the 2007 Super GT 350Z body, as well as the new Audi R8 LMS which is super-flexible and, so far, looking extremely fast in Mod (Grant put down some 7.6xx at Kenon with the Autoscale!). But before that, I want to try getting more front steering without sacrificing the rear downforce advantage I have on Grant. Hence:
Hood vents are a proven method of reducing lift on the hood area -- the low-pressure bubble that normally forms on the hood will instead now pull air out from underneath the car, sucking the car down towards the ground. If the hood vents seem to work, we're going to go even further and cut out the big vents on the fenders. Then all the vents on the sides, as well as the gas cap, are next in line, etc. etc. All these cuts will make the 599 flex more, and thus, if my suspicions are correct, faster.
I also bothered to weigh my car for once, before and after the modification. I've now got both the PN double-A-arm front end AND the Reflex top cover, so the chassis is pretty dense and only the Lexan window is bringing everything in at 123.0g without batteries.
Cool news is, the hood vents cut out 0.5g so now we're actually at 122.5g. Plus batteries, I'm sitting at about 169.5g which means I need to add a little lead to the bottom of the car for big races (170g).
More to come! Hopefully next time I post I will have the laptimes to back up this little experiment.
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