Typhon Extreme downforce drag setup

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Wonder how many have seen this project. Definitely some food for thought.

Red Bull X2011 Prototype | Gran Turismo 5 | adai chang | Flickr

succy succy?
 
What I wonder is if actual weight is the same effect as suction downforce? Could you just use bigger lipos to add the same weight and expect the same results? In my drag hits, I was able to get above 2.5G regularly without the suction contraption.
No it is not. Any additional weight added to the car will reduce grip overall except in some weird edge cases with tiny light and extremely light weight vehicles. Weight is always bad. Downforce adds grip to the car overall, at the cost of induced drag. Downforce will increase grip and cornering speed of a given weight car, but the extra grip added by adding actual weight is far outweighed by the weight itself that you now need more grip to handle. Weight hits you in every dimension of performance and at all speeds, while downforce only helps you at high speed and mostly that means cornering and the first phase of braking, but most acceleration is happening at slower speeds where the downforce isn't high enough to provide as much benefit.

There is a reason that weight reduction is the #1 thing racing teams focus on, because it is a direct and all around increase in performance when you reduce weight. All competitive series have a minimum weight limit because otherwise to be competitive in F1 all the drivers would look like jockeys. It is still an advantage to have a lighter driver as you can place the weight you use to come up to the minimum very low in the car and bunched around the polar moment of inertia. (The pivot point when you turn the car, for lack of a better explanation).

Just so that you have some idea the level of downforce they run in F1, when they let off the throttle at the end of a straight they can pull over 2 Gs slowing down without touching the brakes, just from the induced drag from the downforce they are generating. Next year new rules come into effect in F1 and they will be running ground effects cars with venturis underneath both side pods in an effort to generate more of the downforce from under-car aerodynamics that will not be affected by turbulence as much as over-car downforce and wings. It should lead to much better racing.
 
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