RX7 FD Aerodynamics
 

Hey guys,

Just thought I'd share some of my findings on the FD aero. Enjoy!

Very educational! Thx for sharing. :)

Awesome! People used to say that the stock wing was useless. Obviously they were talking about down force on the real wheels. And they weren't wrong, turns out they were looking at it from the wrong perspective. Very interesting that it turns out the stock wing was actually designed for stability of flow.

Thanks for the vid!

^^^That's typical the all too often misconception about front canards as well.

Yep, his channel has been very educational since I've ran into it by a post from a fellow rotary member.
I immediately posted it up on the Canadian section.

Here's another one that was asked since a few people think it's a good idea to put roof spoilers on vehicles lately:

So this is very interesting as the test that GraysGarage made for the FD actually shows different results than this old article: AutoSpeed - Aero Testing - Part 5

That was an interesting video, thanks for that :-)

Thanks for putting that together! Very interesting!

Wonder what the difference with having the front lip spoiler from the R1/R2 package over no lip spoiler?

Dale

An aftermarket rear diffuser would be another fun Aero item to test. By the looks of it, the FD makes quite a bit of turbulent flow exiting from under the car.

I believe that information is in post#7's link baseline vs R2 table. The same table and wind tunnel picture is also in the book I am currently reading - Race Car Aerodynamics Designing for Speed by Joesph Kratz.

Mazda's published aero figures for the 1991-1998 FD with R1/R2 Aero kit. (from Jack Yamaguchi RX-7 book)

Drag coefficient, Cd = 0.31
Frontal area (A), sq meters/sw feet= 1.79/19.26
Cd X A, sq meters/sq feet= 0.55/5.98
Lift coefficient, front, Clf= 0.04
Lift coefficient, rear, Clf= 0.01

Mazda's published aero figures for the 1999-2002 FD with Aero kit. (from Jack Yamaguchi SAE article)

Drag coefficient, Cd = ?
Frontal area (A), sq meters/sw feet= ?
Cd X A, sq meters/sq feet= ?

Rear wing adjustable to 1,5, 10 and 14.5 degree settings.

Lift coefficient, front, Clf= 0.045 (with rear wing at 1 deg angle setting)
Lift coefficient, rear, Clf= 0.00 (with rear wing at 1 deg angle setting)

Lift coefficient, front, Clf= 0.047 (with rear wing at 5 deg angle setting)
Lift coefficient, rear, Clf= -0.025 (with rear wing at 5 deg angle setting)

Lift coefficient, front, Clf= 0.051 (with rear wing at 10 deg angle setting)
Lift coefficient, rear, Clf= -0.058 (with rear wing at 10 deg angle setting)

Lift coefficient, front, Clf= 0.053 (with rear wing at 14.5 deg angle setting)
Lift coefficient, rear, Clf= -0.075 (with rear wing at 14.5 deg angle setting)

Very cool info!!!

This needs to be a sticky!

man....iv got one of those exact spoilers...not installed (wing-less).
I really dont like the look of it but am now considering installing it..dammit.
Thanks though, very interesting

I have watched a few of your videos and enjoyed them, thanks.

Thank you for the video; I hope more people can see it so they give me less flak for wanting to keep my oem spoiler :p I know there may be better options out there, but with the research I've come across, I've also concluded that the oem works fine if I want to keep good airflow over my RX-7 without subjectng to heavy drag of a wing.

Great video, thanks for sharing!

Resurrecting an old thread to give my thanks to the OP! Thank you for sharing those findings on the OEM spoiler vs no spoiler!

Cheers,
George