Could Active Aerodynamics Be Coming to the Corvette?

[Rob]

The new Ford GT may not be the only American made sports car to feature active aerodynamics.

On May 24, 2016, General Motors filed a patent application entitled “Vehicle Ride-Height Determination for Control of Vehicle Aerodynamics” and just published on March 23, 2017. The application details and active aerodynamics system on a Corvette.

Full Story on the Corvette Action Center's Home Page >>>

 

[Mac]

Make it so, Number One...

Mac

 

[dl72]

That would be nice.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Hib Halverson]

I don't see how GM can avoid adding "active aero" to the Corvette.

 

[kpic]

From Rob's link:

The controller is also configured to determine a ride-height of the vehicle using the detected vehicle body height and to regulate the mechanism in response to the determined ride-height to control aerodynamics of the vehicle.

GM's patent is for adjusting the ride height. Lowering a vehicle generates more "stick" to the road. My guess would be GM has more up their sleeve than just ride height. There is a one H of a lot more to aerodynamics than merely ride height.

Additional down force at the front and rear would add even more "stick-tion" at high speed as would a lot of other .

"The combination of these modifications and the skilled work of the team at Lamborghini, took the Huracán Performante to complete a lap at Nürburgring in 00:06:52:01 setting a new record for best lap and becoming the fastest standard production car at the Shrine of Speed."

Lamborghini Huracan Performante - Technical Specifications, Pictures, Videos

Top 100 Lap Records | Nurburgring Lap Times

I don't know if the above site is up to date or not, I do know according to the site the last time a Corvette was at the Nordschleife was in 2012. Time was 7:19.63.

 

[Mac]

It looks like the top 100 lap times website appears current. The current #1 literally involved current... an electric supercar broke the lap record in May 2017.

Mac

 

[kpic]

The next question would be who drove the cars?

Corvette Ride-and-Handling Engineer Jim Mero drove the ZR1 for its 7:19.63 run.

Jim Mero is no slouch behind the wheel:
2012 Chevy Corvette ZR1 laps the Nurburgring in near-record time

But he isn't a Michael Schumacher when he was at the top of his game either..

 

[Mac]

The next question would be who drove the cars?

Corvette Ride-and-Handling Engineer Jim Mero drove the ZR1 for its 7:19.63 run.

Jim Mero is no slouch behind the wheel:
2012 Chevy Corvette ZR1 laps the Nurburgring in near-record time

But he isn't a Michael Schumacher when he was at the top of his game either..

It begs the question... why would GM choose an employee over someone who specializes in running the 'Ring?

Mac

 

[kpic]

It begs the question... why would GM choose an employee over someone who specializes in running the 'Ring?

Mac

Contract with BMW?

Mero is very good. In a corner during the 7:19.63 run, he did the it was me wave.

That was being far to GM, with so much on the line, they should have hired a professional shoe..

 

[Mac]

Contract with BMW?

Mero is very good. In a corner during the 7:19.63 run, he did the it was me wave.

That was being far to GM, with so much on the line, they should have hired a professional shoe..

She is just one driver who specializes in the Ring. Perhaps they could borrow TopGear's Stig?

Mac

 

[Tuna]

Who drove the new Camaro ZL1 ILE recently?

 

[kpic]

Who drove the new Camaro ZL1 ILE recently?

That is a good question. So far, I can't find anything except advertising hype..

 

[jrose7004]

What a great idea!

 

[kpic]

Potentially, active aerodynamics could easily go past Porsche's speed adjusting wing. For example, the CERV III's active aerodynamics had springs to support the vehicle when it wasn't moving. When it was moving, vehicle height was controlled by the suspension.

With today's technology, there are lots of interpretations possible to active aerodynamics..

 

[Tuna]

Active aerodynamics on autos has for a very long time. Jim Hall had manually activated wings and other devices on his Chaparral sports cars back in the 1960's. After a major failure of the moveable wing on one of them, the Can-Am sanctioning body outlawed moveable aerodynamic devices. Similar rules exist in nearly every racing organization for similar reasons. Of course, simply allowing the builders to install stronger hinges and other control devices would have mostly eliminated the failures. Even today, there are fixed wing failures on race cars and they cause big crashes if they happen in the wrong place.

One of the active aero devices I really liked on sports racing cars of the '60s & '70s was the flippers on the outer ends of the spoilers/wings. These were controlled by the rear suspension travel. Under heavy breaking, the rear moved up and so did the flippers which pushed the rear end back down. Hard acceleration produced the opposite effect - the flippers flattened out. Cornering caused the rear suspension of move differently on each side and that affected the flippers differently - the inside flipper moved up to help push that side of the car down. All without any input from the driver.

But, there is nothing to prohibit active aero on street cars and many have taken advantage of this. Some are as simple as wings or spoilers that pop up on the back of the car when it reaches a certain speed. Some times, the driver can elect to deploy the spoilers/wings at all speeds. Others are much more complex. And, that's part of the problem - active aero is complex and can have many failure modes. Most current street cars have that have active aero only balance the car front to rear. Splitting the rear wing and the front active components to adjust left and right as well as front to rear would be a real benefit to weekend racers and car control in general.

Active components on the rear of the car require equally active components on the front to keep the down force (I assume you want downforce unless you intend to build a flying car) balanced. And they can't afford to fail.

I think GM and Corvette should move to active aero on the Vette. They'd done about everything else they can do with the current platform.

 

[kpic]

Active aerodynamics on autos has for a very long time. Jim Hall had manually activated wings and other devices on his Chaparral sports cars back in the 1960's. After a major failure of the moveable wing on one of them, the Can-Am sanctioning body outlawed moveable aerodynamic devices. Similar rules exist in nearly every racing organization for similar reasons. Of course, simply allowing the builders to install stronger hinges and other control devices would have mostly eliminated the failures. Even today, there are fixed wing failures on race cars and they cause big crashes if they happen in the wrong place.

One of the active aero devices I really liked on sports racing cars of the '60s & '70s was the flippers on the outer ends of the spoilers/wings. These were controlled by the rear suspension travel. Under heavy breaking, the rear moved up and so did the flippers which pushed the rear end back down. Hard acceleration produced the opposite effect - the flippers flattened out. Cornering caused the rear suspension of move differently on each side and that affected the flippers differently - the inside flipper moved up to help push that side of the car down. All without any input from the driver.

But, there is nothing to prohibit active aero on street cars and many have taken advantage of this. Some are as simple as wings or spoilers that pop up on the back of the car when it reaches a certain speed. Some times, the driver can elect to deploy the spoilers/wings at all speeds. Others are much more complex. And, that's part of the problem - active aero is complex and can have many failure modes. Most current street cars have that have active aero only balance the car front to rear. Splitting the rear wing and the front active components to adjust left and right as well as front to rear would be a real benefit to weekend racers and car control in general.

Active components on the rear of the car require equally active components on the front to keep the down force (I assume you want downforce unless you intend to build a flying car) balanced. And they can't afford to fail.

I think GM and Corvette should move to active aero on the Vette. They'd done about everything else they can do with the current platform.

I know and I agree.. My thought was what type or form of active aerodynamics.
Aerodynamics goes past driver or sensor adjustable wings. As you said, they've been around since the 1960s. As you said Chevy has done about everything they can do with the platform; so why not take it a step higher than a wing.?? The front spoiler can be active as well as the rear.

Depending on the search results, in 1990 or 93, the CERV III demonstrated the affects of lowering a vehicle at speeds. Add active or self adjusting spoilers on the front and read adds to it. Time in the wind tunnels decreases drag. Until the Corvette engineers show us, active aerodynamics is a buzz word..

 

[Otter]

Interesting post, Kpic...not sure if your post turned into goobly goop or my browser went south...

 

[kpic]

Posted deleted

 

[Mac]

Not sure why the link in the previous post is so wild...

Mac

 

[Rob]

Fixed / deleted.