Review: Track Spec Hood Louvers

ddd4114

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Yup, it's an AJ Hartman wing. However, it's not his off-the-shelf option for the Mustang:

IMG_1367_zpsq6klnqzq.jpg


I was originally going to work with someone to have a custom wing built (reinventing the wheel, I know, long story), but that fell through. Thankfully, AJ's wing was fairly close to what I wanted, and he was a huge help with providing a wing with custom mount placement to work with what I already had designed.
 

Fabman

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Yup, it's an AJ Hartman wing. However, it's not his off-the-shelf option for the Mustang:

IMG_1367_zpsq6klnqzq.jpg


I was originally going to work with someone to have a custom wing built (reinventing the wheel, I know, long story), but that fell through. Thankfully, AJ's wing was fairly close to what I wanted, and he was a huge help with providing a wing with custom mount placement to work with what I already had designed.

Have you run this wing yet?
I'm wondering if I have enough downforce on the front to match the back.

17457772_10155117123878535_3705041245104060193_n.jpg
 

El_Tortuga

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Just wondering why not put them closer to the front of the hood that way you could do a small duct to pull hot air out of the radiator? Car looks great!

They are located back in the low pressure area of the hood. The hood is not flat. Any further forward and they'll be into the downsloping portion that stacks up higher pressure air and they would an air entrance not an exit. Any further back, and they would be into the high pressure that stacks up near the windshield.
 

Fabman

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The sweet spot is from 17" behind the leading edge of the hood to 12" from the base of the windshield.
As long as you are within that envelope you are good to go.
 

o2sys

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Man the 2010 hood looks sweet with the vents.

How far off do you think the 2010 hood is fitting on a 05-09???
 

ddd4114

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Looks excellent. I'm looking forward to hearing how they worked out on track. On a side note, what wing is that...?
The hood vents worked well this weekend. I compared the data to a similar day last year (ambient temps in the 60's on the same track), and both my coolant and oil temperatures were ~10 degF cooler. I'm sure the splitter helped a bit, but I was also on the gas more per lap due to the extra drag and grip with the aero package. On average, my coolant temperatures this weekend were 210-215 degF, and oil temperatures were in the 260's. I think adding some shrouding to my oil cooler should drop that a bit more. I was still seeing the hood flutter at ~130 mph, so more venting would probably help.

Regarding the wing - it provides tons of downforce, as you'd assume just by looking at it. I found that 3 deg AoA had good balance at speed by providing slight understeer, and anything more than that would push too much. With 315mm Hoosier R7's and a race weight of ~3750 lb, I was pulling 1.4-1.45g in the high-speed turns (~80 mph). Basic math would suggest I'm producing 400-450 lb of total downforce at those speeds. I have a pretty aggressive splitter (which wasn't even working properly) and plan on doing more front aero work, so with just a basic splitter, I think this rear wing setup would be a bit overkill. Even with the smaller end plates and standard mounting system, you'd be running a small AoA. This would be good because separation will essentially be a non-issue, but it also means you can reduce your drag by getting a wing with smaller chord. You can then, in theory, take advantage of the higher aspect ratio and higher AoA to get better lift/drag for the same total downforce.
 

ddd4114

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I don't really care about the flutter itself; I just care that it suggests there is still high pressure under the hood and that's causing lift.
 

Fabman

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I don't really care about the flutter itself; I just care that it suggests there is still high pressure under the hood and that's causing lift.

Could be that the leading edge of the hood will act like a little wing in front of the grill and cause some lift there no matter what.

I'm not an aerodynamic engineer, but I did stay in a Holiday Inn last night.
 

ddd4114

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Yeah, it's possible. I suppose I could always add some pressure transducers and take some measurements if I get really curious.
 

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