What do you guys think of this Chin Spoiler for track use?

[jyl]

I am sure the cosmetic damage to your air dam won't make any discernable difference to performance.

As for the effect of the air dam and the rear spoiler, I looked this up in The Porsche 911 Story by Paul Frere.

Porsche factory test data on an H-series Carrera:
- With front air dam and rear spoiler: Cd 0.414 Ct.f 0.010 Ct.r 0.025
- Without air dam or spoiler: Cd 0.423 Ct.f 0.112 Ct.r 0.246
- Without front air dam, with rear ducktail: Cd 0.414 Ct.f 0.113 Ct.r 0.062

So the air dam and spoiler (or ducktail) together reduce drag a little bit and reduce front and rear lift to nearly zero. And a rear spoiler (or ducktail) with no air dam means the car has much more lift at the front than the rear.

I don't know how you convert from Ct.f and Ct.r to pounds of lift, but the book also says that with air dam and spoiler the total lift at 152 mph is 38 lbs, without either it is 397 lbs.

For a C-series 911 (1970-ish) without aero aids, the lift at 143 mph was 183 lb in front, 255 lb in rear.

And when a deeper front air dam was used, it actually created slight front downforce (Ct.f = -0.055) but increased rear lift (Ct.r = 0.113) by pitching the car forward.

There's more data in the book, but anyway it seems to me that at 150 mph your front and rear aero aids need to be well thought out and balanced.

Nowhere does the book say what the effect of these aero aids is at speeds less than 143 mph, which is a bit more pertinent to me. Perhaps lift is proportional to speed - no idea if this is so - any pilots to help?l

[Mike Kast]

I read somewhere, I'm sure "somewhere" is reassuring, That the lift starts taking effect at speeds of around 65. So it isn't just for the track.

I read that somewhere!

[Jack Olsen]

Originally posted by Zeke
Tell us what the seat of your pants told you. There had to be some difference.

No difference I could tell. I suspect the big dam would benefit me more if I had 50-100 more horsepower. The trade-offs are less air under the car (and less lift) with the dam, and less frontal-area-induced drag with just the splitter.

For my car, it was a wash.

[Emission]

Originally posted by jyl

Porsche factory test data on an H-series Carrera:
- With front air dam and rear spoiler: Cd 0.414 Ct.f 0.010 Ct.r 0.025

Wow. The new Infiniti G35 I just leased has a Cd of .26 with the aero kit. Lift is zero front and rear.

My Porsche would FLY with a Cd of .26!

[emcon5]

Originally posted by jyl
Perhaps lift is proportional to speed - no idea if this is so - any pilots to help?l

Tom

[elydrel]

My main concern was going through fast turns at 100+ mph and having lots of understeer with not having the front spoiler. I think I'll buy that one for the $40 he is asking just so I can have something... That does mean that I'll have to spring for the extra $60 to get a mounting kit. Anyone have an extra one of those laying around?