Sports Driving Glossary: Downforce - Sports Cars
Sports Driving Glossary: Downforce - Sports Cars
On the move, we don’t perceive it, on the road we rarely manage to use it, but on the track aerodynamic downforce starts to work wonders.
Do you know machines Formula 1 that takes turns at 300 km / h and stays glued to the pavement? Good. What prevents it from flying away is not the grip created by the tires (not only at least), but the ailerons, spoilers and aerodynamic elements that press it to the ground. In a nutshell: the air that pushes them to the ground.
How is this possible? Imagine airliner B.oeing 737, eg "middle" range: it weighs about 50.000 250 kg and at the moment of takeoff (at a speed of about XNUMX km / h) an aerodynamic lift lifts it from the ground.... Formula 1 weighs only 600 kg, which is about 80 times less than an airplane, so imagine how little it would take to get it off the ground if only its "wings" were designed to do so.
Deportation
Fortunately, this is not the case. They were created to create DE-liftactually, or aerodynamic force pushing the car towards the ground, not in the sky (as is the case with the elevator).
A single Formula 1 car can easily navigate the tunnel upside down thanks to its downforce. The effect is this: a large hand pushes you to the ground as your speed increases.
In the chain
Le racing car, especially singles and prototypes, Take advantage of aerodynamic loading for extra grip in fast corners; What's more, more downforce also means more powerful braking.
Как will it change in your driving style? Quite a bit of. Cars that boast a lot of downforce, to use it properly, have to enter corners at much higher speeds than cars that have depleted downforce.
È unnatural way of drivingwhich almost goes against your instincts: the more you turn into a corner, the more the car sticks to the ground. Of course, there is a physical limit that you cannot go beyond, but it is an incredibly high limit. Conversely, in slow corners (where the speed is not high enough to generate downforce), cars such as single seaters will be more nervous and grumpy when driving.
