question about downforce on cars

[e mag]

I was watching a show on formula one cars, and it said that at high speeds the downforce is around 4:1, or 4 times the weight of the car right? I also know a few cars like the mclaren f1 and some other supercars have a downforce of about 2:1. My question is, with a downforce of 1:1 or higher, couldn't a car theoretically drive upside down?

[Deep Sixx]

Yes. If the downforce is high enough to overcome gravity's pull on the vehicle, and distributed evenly over the entire body, the car could drive at speed upside down. F1 cars could do this with ease.

sixx

[logamus]

Originally posted by Deep Sixx
Yes. If the downforce is high enough to overcome gravity's pull on the vehicle, and distributed evenly over the entire body, the car could drive at speed upside down. F1 cars could do this with ease.

sixx

[Mango]

Originally posted by Deep Sixx
Yes. If the downforce is high enough to overcome gravity's pull on the vehicle, and distributed evenly over the entire body, the car could drive at speed upside down. F1 cars could do this with ease.

sixx

[beam]

Originally posted by Deep Sixx
Yes. If the downforce is high enough to overcome gravity's pull on the vehicle, and distributed evenly over the entire body, the car could drive at speed upside down. F1 cars could do this with ease.

sixx

[e mag]

alrighty then

[Downfall]

If you were to see the under side of a Ferrari F50, you would notice that it is shaped like an upside down airplane wing, which provides additional downforce. In theory the F50 should be the best street car at driving upside down. Not sure why you would do that.

[gamarada717]

Explain what exactly downforce is and how the numbers work.

[Spray Painter]

downforce is the air pressure pushing down on a car when it is moving, it's almost exactly opposite of what an airplane wing does, so cars(like a maclaren f1) are shaped to create lots of downforce so they can go faster without losing traction and going out of control

[Cha0tic]

the saleen s7 is theoretically supposed to be able to stick to the top of a tunnel doing 160mph. ill grab an article on it if i can.

[Python14]

I'll gladly test that idea out.

[PyRo]

Keep in mind if your wrong you die :)

[Jack_Dubious]

Im sure this gets more downforce than some cheap F50...
http://www.uoregon.edu/~tmeyer/ricer.jpg

JDub

[PyRo]

lol
That guy needs teh 12in racing exhaust though.

[ProjectMag]

Originally posted by Deep Sixx
Yes. If the downforce is high enough to overcome gravity's pull on the vehicle, and distributed evenly over the entire body, the car could drive at speed upside down. F1 cars could do this with ease.

sixx

[Python14]

Originally posted by PyRo
Keep in mind if your wrong you die :)

If by dead you mean "Dead in an awsome car doing an awsome stunt", then yes. Otherwise, no. I will not be dead.

[PyRo]

Lets get someone to build us a huge tunnel and try it :)

[Python14]

Dude, I'll just hit the cheasapeake bay tunnel/bridge. It will be mondo. Btw, if I make it, yall are having a party for me.

[PyRo]

Ok :) I'll bring mountain dew and some pop tarts :)

[gamarada717]

So, instead of like an airplane wing, being tilted slightly up to get air under it, it tilts down? And what part of the car actually acts as the "pusher downer"?

[PyRo]

Yeah its like a reverse airplane wing, so instead of pushing a plane up, it pushes a car down. Therefore if you turn it (the car) upside down you have a wing, which is pushing the car up rather than down, or to the side. So you could get your car to stick to walls or the cealing.

[ZAust]

the spoiler is shaped like this:

__________________
\________________/

yeah, it sucks, but you get the idea. the thing is, air moving under the spolier has to move faster than the air just going straight over the top. air moving at faster speeds has lowere pressure, and air will naturally move from areas of high pressure to low pressure. therefore the high pressure air above the spoiler will move toward the low pressure air under the spoiler, creating the downforce.