1960 Lemans Cunningham Corvette Hood Vent and Spoiler

[Tom Bryant]

Not the best picture but it's what I could get in a hurry without digging out some old slides.

Question:

Does any engineering drawings or blueprints of the spoiler and vents exist anywhere? I'm also interested in the exact location of the spoiler and hole for the vents. I'm not tsure if Chevy made these items or just made the plans available to the race teams. I recall reading once that Chevy told the teams to locate the spoiler in a specific location. The teams that did didn't even have to use wipers in the rain and the others didn't see much benefit from the part.

ent

 

[JohnZ]

Here's what that device looked like on the '62 LeMans car driven by Tony Settember (restored by Dale Pearman and Ken Hansen).

 

[cbernhardt]

Interesting pictures. I assume that the spoilers were an attempt to help with high speed front end lift? What type of speed did these cars attain on the Mulsanne straight at Le Mans?

Charles

 

[richscorvettes]

That car is in the Miller family collection (Carlisle) and was restored by Kevin McKay of Corvette Repair in Long Island, NY. He's done quite a few historic race cars and may have your answer.

Rich

 

[cbernhardt]

Thanks Rich:

I was thinking that I might take my '59 project down to the Maxton Mile (http://www.ecta-lsr.com) and see what kind of speed I could attain, that is assuming that I might actually finish it one of these days. I know that the '68 L88's reached about 190mph, but I was just curious as to what the '62's were turning. Carol did a few laps in her '62 on Lowes Motor Speedway a few years ago but you were limited to about 130 mph. No lifting problems at that speed.

Charles

 

[JohnZ]

Interesting pictures. I assume that the spoilers were an attempt to help with high speed front end lift? What type of speed did these cars attain on the Mulsanne straight at Le Mans?

Charles

The fence and vents arrangement on the 1960 car appears to be for improved cooling - the fence would create a low-pressure area in the boundary layer of air immediately behind it, where the vents are.

Tony Settember said the plexiglass fence on the 1962 car made the wipers more effective in the rain.

I'd guess they probably saw 140-150mph on Mulsanne.

 

[Loren Lundberg]

Chevrolet had wind tunnel test results using a 1959. They provided the parts at Le Mans to Cunningham and Camoradi, with instructions on where they were to be placed. They had virtually nothing to do with front end downforce (the world would wait for the Jim Hall Chapparral studies on
"Where to move air") and more with passing the air cleanly over the roof.
Cunningham's car got the spolier installed as directed. Lee Lilley of Camoradi directed that theirs be placed to the rear; in practice it was noted to be of no effect, so a 3" riser of clear plexiglass was added to the top.
On the second driver's shift it started to rain, heavily. Gamble noted with the wiper on he had to scrunch down to see through a 3" window just slightly above the steering wheel; Gamble also reported seeing 2 of the Cunningham cars on course that did NOT even use the wipers. When the driver switch came, Gamble asked Lilley to "re-evaluate" the spoiler location.
Thompson's #2 was timed on the Mulsanne at 151; Camoradi's best was the high 130's but this was due to Gamble's instructions "Make every shift at 5000 RPM and no more than 5700 RPM on the Mulsanne.".
It should also be remembered that contrary to the blatherings of some idiot in one of the Corvette mags, you did not "hold it to the floor on the Mulsanne". Every one lifted, to allow extra oil to come to the upper engine levels. Bob Grossman informed me (at the Chip Miller #3 "coming out" party) that he lifted TWICE on the Mulsanne.

 

[Tom Bryant]

That is some interesting stuff. I would suspect that even if downforce wasn't a concern or even looked at in the wind tunnel that getting that radiator airflow up and out of the engine compartment had to have some effect on front end downforce.

The Maxton mile is an interest of mine too. I wonder how detrimental a soft top would be at speed as compared to a hardtop.

Tom

 

[Newton]

You really can't appreciate how long the Muslanne straight is until you drive it. In the old days there was no chicane. If I remember correctly the Muslanne straight is longer than the entire track at Pocono. That puts it in perspective. You simply had to lift at some point to keep from blowing up.

It took a long time for anyone to learn about aero. Just talk to Dick Thompson or Dick Gulstrand what it was like to drive the Grand Sports. They lifted so bad at Sebring the front wheels came off the ground. Gulstrand said you had to get off the gas early at some corners just so the front wheels could get back on the ground.

Richard Newton

Corvette Restoration Guide: 1963-1967

Ultimate Garage Handbook