Angle for rear wing?

[Hedge]

FWIW, I'm not suggesting either wing set ups (for the 2/3/3/5 vs 4) are tremendously effective; as previously mentioned, the air flow over any Atom - regardless of version - is not conducive to such a thing. Furthermore the 4's rear aero sounds like it may have a diffuser, which would be kinda compromised by the air flow under the car, I think?

Let's face it, the main reason people like buying aero on any Atom is because it looks as sexy AF. Period. To argue about how effective any of it is is (largely) missing the point..

Cheers,
Hedge

[wasp]

I have opted for Aero on my 4. I expect straight line speed to be a bit compromised on circuits where you have big straights )like Spa.) I expect it to go round fast corners a bit quicker but overall lap time probably won't be much different. Any kind of plus will be a bonus. I would gain way more time by being a lot braver and generally being a less lazy driver who does left foot braking and all that shizzle.
I do fully expect to get a more than slight fizzling in my undercrackers every time I walk into the garage though. You are all welcome to take that image for free.

Cheers,
Stu

[HenryJS]

If anyone wants to discuss Aerofoil benefits of the Atom 4 - please get in touch with the factory.

I believe this thread could be misleading.

Many thanks!

Henry @ Ariel

[John Scherrer]

I believe this thread could be misleading.


Henry, any reason why the factory don't publish aero measurement stats for the cars?

This "the wings are just for looks" story never ends .. which must be irritating considering all the work that has gone into their design.

[hamtt]

I would love to see actual published figures. When I started doing the wings I actually went to my old uni and used their wind tunnels to do some basic analysis on the wing profiles but realised very quickly the numbers would just not be the same in real world application because of the turbulent air, so never published them as actual claimed figures.

I'm still in touch with the professors at my old uni (some of who have done a lot of work in various aspects of the aerospace industry) and was actually discussing some work with them as a potential project for a Masters student on some bodywork design not long ago.

[HenryJS]

The Atom 3 wings we always said were just for looks - because we never tested them and we are ok with that!

Then we tested them - and found that you can put in too much Angle of Attack on the rear one - it negates the effect of front aerofoil doing its job at Maximum AoA. The air is dirty back there (for Atom 2 / 3 3.5) However there are measurable and repeatable gains.

The Atom 4 wings have had many hours of testing thrown at them, and provide much more downforce than the Atom 2 / 3 / 3.5 ones. Maybe one day we will have some real world figures to publish. The likelihood is that we wont... Sorry...

Were not big on publishing figures for things like aero - if we put it £ per KG of downforce, it would look fairly meagre. The car is also not a 'downforce car' like a Radical.
So we keep the details to our selves and attempt to make setup choices much simpler. On the whole - this is where we aim, and where most of our customers are in the spectrum.
Serious racers and lap time junkies will buy an F3, Formula Renault, Radical etc etc etc where milimeter measurements on wings do actually count...

From our Experience at MIRA:
There isnt a huge amount of downforce with Atom 3 wings (but we all knew that). The thing that they do achieve however is to settle the car into a much more neutral and predictable attitude (and do provide some downforce!)
The Rear wing affects the car much more than the front.

An advised wing setup would be - Rear Minimum - Medium AoA, Front Medium - Maximum AoA - depending on how much drage penalty you want to sacrifice. Long fast tracks id say keep the AoA 'flatter' and shorter tracks, increase it a little.

If in doubt, set the rear to minimum and the front to maximum and leave it there! Its not the most efficient setup, for drag or downforce, but its the easiest to achieve.

Any more questions - please email me on my work email address!

All the best and happy wing fiddling...

[speedmachine]

What does medium AoA mean?

[Italianpaul]

What does medium AoA mean?

I believe it stands for Angle of Attack..

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

[speedmachine]

what I've noticed kind a confirms what Henry said. At Spa francorchamps with having front and back on "showstyle" aka minimum setting I noticed the front was quite light, I think lighter than with no wing at all, felt like it created lift, putten the thing almost all the way down...way better, more stable and didn't feel like the car would blow away from the track on higher speeds.

Sometime later on a small track (Zolder) the car was kind of light in the rear and I gave the rear aboout medium, which gave me more confidence to make a follow through turn on high speed, saved me quite some time per lap, but mostly confidence and trust in the rear.
so my current setup is front almost maxed out and rear medium, about what Henry said