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RE: Wickerbill/Gurney flap

To: land-speed@autox.team.net
Subject: RE: Wickerbill/Gurney flap
From: "Russel Mack" <rtmack@concentric.net>
Date: Mon, 2 Jun 2003 23:31:40 -0500
Dan, Dale:
yeah, I'm sure you guys are right about this.  Thanks for correcting the
errors of my pre-Altzheimer's state.

Scratch-out Gurney Flap in my previous post, and replace w/ Hanford Device,
and I think everything would be pretty much right.  Except that Gurney Flap
and wickerbill probably are the same thing.

The point for us LSR-types is what Mayf concluded:  there are more efficient
aero means for us to get the benefits that wickerbill users seek (more
grip).  And also-- the Hanford Device has very little use to us at all--
hey, maybe as a movable surface, for braking.  But maybe not.  That would be
roughly equal to Burkland's "dive brakes", which haven't seemed to help a
whole lot, so far.

Your experience on the Alfa is interesting.  I think it was a good
expedient, under the circumstances.  As Mayf has suggested, this is not
exactly like a wickerbill on a wing; however-- whether on a wing or on a
spoiler, a wickerbill is really just a vortex generator, I think. It helps
to maintain flow attachment-- or induces a better stream curvature in the
deadspace behind the car (or bike.  hmmmm!).  Glad it worked for you guys.
W/o wind tunnels, tho, we just have to guess about these things.

I think if we could talk to the owner of "Grandpa's Toy", we would find that
his experience with vortex generators wasn't as successful (I've noticed
that he took them off, anyway).
Russ, #1226B

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