[dradernh]

Originally Posted by MarcoZandrini

Hi to everyone!
I track my car at Virginia International Raceway (VIR)and at Summit Point Raceway. I typically run the front straight at VIR at over 125mph (4th gear). I notice that the steering becomes rather light at that speed even though the car is in the "Sport+" mode. Other than PF-08 pads, the car is stock. Tires are 18" Michelin PSS. Any suggestions or recommendations to increase front down force?

Thanks!

The traditional route to increasing front downforce is via aerodynamic aids such as vented hoods, dive planes, and splitters. The first item below is an example of a vented hood; below that is a photo showing dive planes and a splitter on an E36 I owned.

If I needed more front downforce, I'd start with dive planes. After that, I'd go to a vented hood; however, if cost was paramount, I might choose a splitter ahead of the vented hood. Living with a splitter on the street may not be much fun, though.

This is a vented hood that may fit our cars: https://www.aeuroplug.com/collection...er-vented-hood.



The photo below shows Bimmerworld's CF dive planes for the E36; more on them here: https://www.bimmerworld.com/Body-Aer...es-E36-M3.html. I doubt there are any dive planes made for our cars, so you'd need to go to a shop that would fabricate them for you out of aluminum. That won't be a big deal for a qualified shop.

The splitter in the photo was made out of MDO by my shop. More on MDO here: https://www.andersonplywood.com/mdo-...nsity-overlay/. That stuff is heavy, but it's virtually waterproof, and it's easy to create a bullnose on it with a router. Besides, our cars are already tanks.

The splitter's turnbuckles ensure that it remains in position no matter how high the speed. You should be able to stand on a splitter without it flexing at all. A flexing splitter results in it not only not doing the job it was designed for, but it creates quite a bit of drag as well.

Note that you'd likely put a much shorter splitter on an F22 and wouldn't need turnbuckles. The splitter in this photo was adjustable in length from 3"-9", and that's why it's got turnbuckles.