Re: [DML] DeLorean Floatation Device

["Toby Peterson" <tobyp@xxxx>]

Hello List - Not to beat this one into the ground, but I thought I'd 
share my experience with this topic of handling at higher speeds. As 
a reference point, you can find in Stainless Steel Illusion a section 
where they talk about wind tunnel testing of the DeLorean. The 
finding was that the car needed to be "nose down" a bit, or 
aerodynamic lift would be a problem. Then, recall the fact that the 
nose was raised late in the design/production phase for whatever 
reasons. I found the aero lift at speed to be very annoying, 
especially on turn number two at Pacific Raceways. Using custom 
springs and shocks, I lowered the front of Winged1 3.50 inches. Then, 
we did a little "wind tunnel" testing of our own using a video camera, 
and water spray from a wet freeway, with the flow backlit using the 
rising sun at dawn. Based on the footage that we shot of the spray 
flow around the car, I also incorporated a 1.25" rubber lip below the 
existing airdam. This addition, together with the lowering, 
dramatically affected the aerodynamic stability of the car. Winged1 
also runs cooler, and the steering effort is very consistent, due to 
the slight vacuum under the car at speed. Downforce can be our 
friend. Don't add weight to the front - all you do is increase the 
polar moment of inertia of the car, resulting in slower turn-in, and 
dramatic oversteer when you really screw up. Mike's post is very good 
at laying out the facts. 





--- In dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, mike.griese@xxxx wrote:

> A contributing factor to the DeLorean's high speed understeer 
> (and it is there) is the front ride height. The nose up attitude 
> allows air underneath the car at the front, causing lift, lightening 
> it even further.
> 
> Tacking on extra weight is not the way to go about tuning a 
> suspension. 
> In fact, it's about the worst thing to do because now you have that
> much more mass you have to turn. The first step for tuning the 
> DeLorean is to get the nose down to reduce front end lift.