Keith, what you seem to be alluding to here is race car bodies that
develop increasing lift with increasing speed. That would obviously be
very dangerous.
I have heard that people with cars with suspensions measure suspension
deflection and log the data to record lift or downforce. Under fierce
acceleration at Maxton I don't see how this could work, but it would
better at Bonneville. I think I recall Chuck Salmen does that with his
$um Fun roadster and he selected the '34 Ford roadster body because it
has a natural downforce about it when dropped a little at the nose.
That car has been conspicuous for its safe handling.
The only scientific way to approach testing body lift or downforce,
seems to me, would be model-testing in something like the Caltech wind
tunnel, like Sam Wheeler had for his mc 'liner. But I hear that might
cost $10K a day if you have to pay for it.
And yet a lot of people have been successful in designing their
high-speed lakester and 'liner bodies intuitively with no access to
wind-tunnel testing. More power to them, it's a game with high stakes.
Bill
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