Seriously "active" aero

[dbk]

Regarding the Ford GT rear wing:

"When deployed, it can even change shape to optimize airflow and squeeze out just that extra bit of performance."

Flush

Deployed

Anyone ever seen deployable gurney flaps before?

Even Stormcat should be happy with the amount of downforce this car makes ! :eek

 

[AJB]

Beautifully integrated. Does the base car (ie the vehicles we can order ) come with the deployable wing ?
andy (ajb)

 

[B.M.F.]

Beautifully integrated. Does the base car (ie the vehicles we can order ) come with the deployable wing ?
andy (ajb)

yes

 

[twobjshelbys]

Beautifully integrated. Does the base car (ie the vehicles we can order ) come with the deployable wing ?
andy (ajb)

The street car will have active aero. The race versions can't have active - the wing is fixed - both mounting and adjustment.

I wonder if the active wing is deployed using hydraulics or electric.

 

[Vince H]

Beautifully integrated. Does the base car (ie the vehicles we can order ) come with the deployable wing ?
andy (ajb)

Well said Andy. Incredible function and style. Masterpiece.

Vince H

 

[shelbyelite]

More impressed with this car every day

 

[Cobrar]

Jim Hall is smiling. ;-))

 

[texas mongrel]

Jim Hall is smiling. ;-))

Maybe a future iteration will have two snowmobile engines instead of the rear lights?

 

[stuntman]

Not sure if the flaps are 'active'. They may just be there the entire time and are not as obvious due to the angle the picture was taken in the first image.

 

[nota4re]

Is Ford calling those, "flaps"?

 

[Lightning]

"spoilers"?

 

[dbk]

They are indeed active. They deploy when the wing is up and retract when the wing is down.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gurney_flap

 

[Enzo101]

Way cool!! This thing is just going to dominate!!

 

[sr71]

Active aero goes back a long way. Interesting article on Jim Hall's Chaparral...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaparral_Cars

Always wondered about race organizations banning certain innovations. I can understand things like adding the chicanes to the Mulsane straight to limit speed for safety. In some ways bans level the playing field, but in others they can slow or stop development in a new direction. Many race innovations trickle down into daily drivers with improvements in performance, safety, and fuel economy. Benefits the whole industry.

Great to see Ford going ahead with a development it can't use for racing, but does in its road car. Go Ford!

 

[STORMCAT]

Regarding the Ford GT rear wing:

"When deployed, it can even change shape to optimize airflow and squeeze out just that extra bit of performance."

Flush

Deployed

Anyone ever seen deployable gurney flaps before?

Even Stormcat should be happy with the amount of downforce this car makes ! :eek

This thing gets better every day !! really shaping up to be more than anyone could have imagined.. I think the next announcement will be for the boost option of a Flux Capacitor or a Hyper Drive !! ...:biggrin

 

[nota4re]

On an airfoil, flaps go down to increase lift. Flaps don't go up. Spoilers go up...... or maybe they can call it a deploy-able wicker.

 

[Indy GT]

Slats, Spoilers and Flaps....Oh My!

On an airfoil, flaps go down to increase lift. Flaps don't go up. Spoilers go up...... or maybe they can call it a deploy-able wicker.

Kendall,

I agree but think the "deployable" technology is so new in the automotive field, people are struggling to use common aerodynamic terms to relate to this newly applied technology. It is a matter of semantics.

Yes, flaps on an airplane wing do go "down" or more accurately are lowered into the low(er) velocity flow stream on the underside of the wing. Recall that air velocity is higher on the upper wing surface according to Bernoulli's Principal. This action does result in increased wing lift at a slower wing velocity (with higher attending drag as well). Spoilers do go "up" into the upper high(er) velocity stream but only after the pilot determines he no longer wants the wing to produce lift (ie after the plane has landed) and is being slowed. Their deployment is a lift killer so the aircraft weight can be quickly transferred to the undercarriage wheels and also develops drag which helps slow the plane on the tarmac.

Rear wing application on a car is to produce downforce (not lift) to increase car/tire grip to the road surface. Sustainable tire forces through the contact patch (tire/surface) interface are dependent on the applied normal force through this patch which a rear wing can selectively (if adjustable) increase.

The rear wing airfoil in an automotive application is turned upside down so the "lift" it generates is actually directed toward the ground to increase the patch normal force. So really the flap (or deployable wicker which is certainly an acceptable term as well) is still deployed toward and into the slower velocity airstream which, in the automotive application, is on the upper surface of the wing since it has been mounted upside down.:wink

 

[dbk]

Damn, and I was just gonna post pretty much the same thing.

 

[Xcentric]

Someone call for a deployable wicker?

 

[texas mongrel]

Installing a " Gurney deployable wicker" just doesn't have the same ring to it as "Gurney flap"