Mach 1 Down Force

[ryanscobra]

A cobra guy was talking to me the other day and said he wished he had the down force of a Mach 1. He told me that the chin spoiler and rear spoiler gave us more down force than I thought. Apparently our rear spoiler's give more down force than the cobra's spoiler, and the chin's give way more than a GT without a chin spoiler. My question is, do our spoiler really make any difference at all? I figured they were both there for looks. Even at high speeds, I don't see our spoilers doing much on down force but maybe I'm wrong. Anyone have any input on this?

[VAstrongman]

lol

[XSELLR8]

Ha ha- how would an 03 Cobra NASCAR style fin give less downforce than a sliver wing that cuts THROUGH the air? A real wing is just like an airplane wing just turned upside down. It's supposed to create lift, just in the opposite direction. I highly doubt ours does anything.

[Thunderbolt]

Yeah, he uses his wind tunnel mouth to determine downforce.

[frisko4one5]

^^^ lol. I can just imagine that lol. In my opinion the cobra spoiler I think creates more down force due to the fact that the air will travel evenly over the entire car and back. I would think the gap our spoilers have on the bottom where the trunk is, would not make it create enough downforce. Thats jus me
Tho

[4valve 4tw?]

Who knows if there's a negligable difference between either style wing.

What he's trying to get at with the chin spoiler though, is that it serves as whats called a splitter. The more the splitter sticks out from the car the better(usually), however it needs to be perfectly level with the bottom of the front bumper. The chin spoiler on the Mach however, does a hair above squat.

[311-420]

He's got it backwards.

The heat extractors on 03 04 cobras relieve ~160lbs of lift, which is the same as adding 160lbs of down force.

While the chin spoiler on the mach helps, its nothing like the cobras hood vents and rear spoiler combination.

[4valve 4tw?]

^^^ this. Although I've never heard that official number before, its completely believable.

I can only hope, in the future almost all performance cars have some sort of tastefuly designed hood vents even if they are n/a. Possibly the single easiest way to add heat extraction and relieve under hood pressure, it takes almost no R and D other then counter balancing the rear downforce. Which in any car is needed anyway.

[311-420]

Originally Posted by 4valve 4tw?

^^^ this. Although I've never heard that official number before, its completely believable.

I can only hope, in the future almost all performance cars have some sort of tastefuly designed hood vents even if they are n/a. Possibly the single easiest way to add heat extraction and relieve under hood pressure, it takes almost no R and D other then counter balancing the rear downforce. Which in any car is needed anyway.

I've got that information in one of my Sean Hyland books.

Placement of the reliefs is actually critical. They need to be at the front 30% of the hood, otherwise the air will never escape as the engine blocks it.

The new 13's have the vents, but are too far back from the looks of it. They should still relieve heat, but probably not alot of help in the lift department.

[4valve 4tw?]

Agreed, they are kinda odd. They start from the back of the air box, and run almost on top the strut towers. Slightly inward though, so I assume they were designed to pull hot air straight off the manifolds/headers/whatever you want to call them. Good idea, but even then they arn't in a perfect spot. Could also be, that after a little researching, the Boss 302 isnt quite as track prepped as they say. It has infinite cooling measures in place, but the air has no where to go. Tons, and tons of people I read switching to this one specific hood, with some pretty noticable heat vents, and more towards the front to. They all say it seemed to help immensly. I have a feeling maybe Ford heard the complaints and at least attempted to rectify it. Helping with lift, probably not. Helping with heat, one can only assume, as a smaller GT500 vent would have done the trick just as well or better.

I actually saw someone in the photo gallery put them on a black, track prep'd mach 1 in a more forward spot. Ill see if I can find it again.

Best spot is like the 03/04 Cobra(and 99% of race cars), sinking deep down towards the radiator. Pulls tons of hot air out helping lift in the process.

[4valve 4tw?]

Ah ha. Found it. I assume those are 13+ vents at least.

[311-420]

Those look like the vents. And placed at a good location too.

But I still like how the gt500s are done, better.
http://www.roadandtrack.com/var/ezfl...0006_large.jpg

[Thor]

I imagine that there is "some" affect, but I didn't notice it at 130mph on the autobahn.

But at approximately 180mph, (judging the time and tach still climbing), when the suspension bottomed on uneven surface causing the front end to kick up - neither did schnit to prevent this. And if it wasn't for 600+ lbs of beef inside, it may have taken flight.

A bit too dangerous to suit me...