Interesting read on 3rd gen aerodynamics
 

I was searching for some info on testing the aerodynamics of a car by using strings and ran into this article. Not sure if it's been posted before, but thought it was interesting. I'd like to see how the air flows over my car with aftermarket aero parts.

http://autospeed.com/cms/A_108677/article.html

-Dan

Very interesting. I had read somewhere awhile ago that the FD had a coefficient drag of .28. Not much difference to squabble about, but just noting.

Interesting read.

Cheers.

more info: with addition of '99 wing

Base R1/R2 99 JDM
wing n/a fixed 1° 5° 10° 14.5°
Cd 0.29 0.31 0.35 0.35 0.36 0.36
Clf 0.16 0.10 0.05 0.05 0.05 0.05
Clr 0.08 0.08 0.00 -0.03 -0.06 -0.08

also for referance:

Corksport FD2 Wing
low mid high
0.37 0.38 0.39
0.07 0.08 0.09
0.01 -0.05 -0.10

and BMW M3, i forgot whicj=h version I pulled this from but it shows even in full race trim rear uplift and more harmful front uplift .. Mazda did an excellant job on the FD and even '99 wing does its job of planting front and rear down even more. All downforce takes is Hp to overcome the resulting drag.

M3 M3ST Race
0.31 0.30
0.21 0.10
0.13 0.01

Yea I remember reading this a while back. Great article. I'm glad you posted it. I lost the link a while back.

Great post Dan! I have been searching for info regarding cd on the FD w/ an R1 wing vs. no wing vs. 99 wing. Anyone else want to contribute with a link/info regarding this issue?

According to the link Scrub posted, it looks like the R1 wing didn't reduce anymore lift coefficient in the rear, just more drag...but I want to challenge this by seeing if I or anyone else can scrounge up more credible info on this issue (to either confirm or challenge the above info in the link, b/c I would like to think that the R1 wing does supply some sort of benefit over nothing).

Ryan

re-a also tested the 99spec wing and their own gt wing on track. results can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6_MUycoPPs

The 7 looked SO much more stable with that GT wing on the back.

After watching the vid, the drop in time from having no wing to the stock 99 wing is very good considering it's a factory part.
Of course, adding a GT style wing to a race course is nessasary since you're trying to lap the track as fast as you can.
Having a GT style wing for the street is a different matter.

After reviewing all of this, I might consider picking up a 99 spec spoiler to swap out my 94 spoiler. :)

I knew that spoiler didn't do much for the car, but it did give it a nice finishing touch. Since I have it back there already, and all its pretty much doing is adding drag, might as well swap it out to a 99 spec wing that is actually functional. :)
Have it on the medium angle so it can reduce the lift on the rear a bit. ;)

racing beat used the tape and string method for their GTU/GTO cars in the 80's

wow kinda want a spoiler now.....

looked better with the 99 spec, but preformed better with gt.. some reason the back of the car with the gt looks pretty good, but when i saw the car from front to side i just dont like it

Talking about aerodynamics. The FD is the only car Ive ever driven in the rain & not got any water on the rear window. Thats wierd .!

Looks aside it really depends on the type of driving you plan on doing. I will be running the 99 spec wing on my black car purely for function, it's not the prettiest wing out there but it works.....also black hides the lines of the wing :)

You must not be driving fast enough in the other cars hahaha. I was driving a Legacy GT in the rain the other day and had zero water on the rear window ;)

Looks aside it really depends on the type of driving you plan on doing. I will be running the 99 spec wing on my black car purely for function, it's not the prettiest wing out there but it works.....also black hides the lines of the wing :)