Wing Angles

[Johnny B]

Anyone care to offer an opinion for wing angles on an FM. On a high speed track like Mosport ( now Canadian Tire Motorsport Park ) I'm thing maybe 4* in the front and 6* in the rear ? Just guessing.

Thanks,
John B.

[Rick Ross]

How are you measuring the angles? With the standard FM, you normally want to run more front than rear wing. For example, if measuring across the top of the wings without the gurney flaps, you may want 8 degrees front and 6 degress rear at a track like VIR or Road Atlanta. Not sure about Mosport.

[George Main]

With an FM at Mosport, I would use turn 8 and turn 2 as judge/jury as to the amount that you want to peel off of the wings. Start with higher than you think, and take away front and rear. Provided the car has a setup with balanced mechanical grip IE entry to 3 to mid of 3 , then 5-5a. In 8 from entry to almost the entry of nine is uphill with a slight dip down on entry. Mid way if the car oversteers or becomes loose with aggression, you probably have two much front and the car will be neutral on entry to two and the mid until you hit the "flat" at the bottom of the hill. What you want is as close to neutral in 8 through out and slight understeer in 2 which is completely normal for almost all cars.

Keep peeling off wing until you can't deal with one or the other anymore....back up a bit (a degree on the offensive end) and your where you need to be.... the goal is to make the wings as flat as possible and still be able to drive the car... IMHO..

[dalz]

In general, it's less than you'd think. These simple, single-element wings are not that efficient. I'd bet anywhere above 3 or 4 deg the drag goes up exponentionally compared to downforce. 4-6 is quite high for anywhere, even a smaller track. Then again, one of my racing heroes is Tom Sneva....

[JRMarchand]

Rick is right, 8front/6 rear(ideal) or 6/4(long track) or 10/8 for short courses

[Johnny B]

Many Thanks Guys,
I guess I have the wings more rear than front and the driver always complains about understeer.
We'll do another test day and see what we can find.
Best lap to date is 1:24:0.

When in doubt ask the FM guys. Always good info.

John B.

[Rick Ross]

Back when I ran the FM's we always used about 2 to 3 degrees more wing on the front than the rear (measured without the gurneys). If in doubt, it is hard to go wrong with 8 front/6 rear.

FM's still tend to understeer, however. I used to address this with bump rubbers and packers on the rear dampers, but the dampers have since been updated, and I'm not sure what the current best set-up would be.