[SuperCricket]

It's been a while since I've posted. I've been trying to finish college getting my BS in computer science. I'm down to my senior project which is going to be a ghetto imitation of the Bugatti airbrake system on the Veyron. I'm sure some of you have seen it, and apparently at speeds above 115 ish once it snaps up to a 55 degree angle it provides around .6 g of negative acceleration on the heavy 4,500 pound Veyron.

(IMG:http://www.bugatti.com/pages/101/bildspalte/verzoegerung02.jpg)
(IMG:http://ghettolanparty.org/gallery/gallery-storage/CamaroRacecar/ghettomaro_2007_1.sized.jpg)

The ole Camaro weighs 2,875 on the scales so hopefully I can get some free braking out of this and graduate at the same time. The system will be controlled by a microcontroller and circuit setup I have to design, and will change degree based on the speed of the car. So for autocross speeds I can have a very high angle of attack, and as speed increases it can drop back so as to not kill the drag. Then of course under braking it will snap up to an appropirate angle to give some additional drag on the car. I have to test all of this along the way with accelerometers and what not to see if it makes any difference.

So the question is, does anyone know where to get a Camaro sized airfoil that isn't $1,100. After googling for a while the only one I could find is a G-stream wing, but I don't really want to blow that much on an airfoil. All of the ebay knockoffs are only 56 inches wide or so, and would look goofy on the wide Camaro. I also need a wider chord so I can get some good drag out of the airbrake so a silly 6 inch wide ebay wing wont do me much good.

Anyway thanks for any ideas or help! I'm still in the Dallas/Fort Worth area if that makes any different on an airfoil supplier.

-Kyle

This post has been edited by SuperCricket: Jan 23 2009, 08:11 AM

[00 Trans Ram]

You may be best served by building your own. It's not overly hard. Easiest way is to make a few cross-sectional diagrams. If you want to decide on the best design, I suggest using a program like FoilSim2. It's free, and lets you adjsut the shape, size and angle of attack of your wing to see what the results will be. Personally, I think that the cross-section of a DC-3 would be the best for our cars. I don't remember the specs off the top of my head, but it has a very high lift factor at low speeds (for an airfoil, auto racing qualifies as "low speed") and works at high angles of attack without stalling out.

As far as how to do it, there are a few methods. Easiest to hardest, they are:

- Make about 4 cross-sections out of thin plywood. Attach "L" brackets around the perimeter of each. Space them out however wide you want your wing and cover them with thin aluminum sheet. Rivet the sheet to the brackets on the cross-sections. It'll be stiff, and fairly light.

- Do that same thing, but first drill holes (large ones, like 2" in diameter) in all the cross-sections. Alternately, you can drill holes in the wing itself. Fill each section with expanding foam (preferrably, the non-sticky kind). Remove the skin (use cheaper material than aluminum, since you won't be keeping it). You'll have a foam wing. Cover the wing in fiberglass and finish it off.

- You can try to glue foam pads together and carve them into the shape of a wing. Then cover with glass. I think that'd be almost impossible to get symetrical and straight.

- Instead of using fiberglass, use carbon fiber. More expensive and harder to work with, but lighter and cooler.