Wooden road mimic

[CassonWest]

In the coming weeks my team's aero group will be performing a wind tunnel test on our 2008 Formula SAE racer. We made a wooden piece to go on our suspension "downforce" jig to cut the boundary layer. I have a question about the width though. Right now we have it protruding out the front and back of the car a fair amount, but the width goes only about a half inch on either side. It sits about 4 inches high (on the jig). We are doing some basic drag testing, so will this have any effect on our data by not having protruding sides on our false road?

Operating speeds will be no more than 60 mph during the test. If there is ANY negative effect at ANY speed please let me know. I can make the decision later.

Thank you

[Carlos]

Hate to admit he had a good idea, I admired, but, Conceptual touched on this in another thread. Without knowing more details of your design, I'd suggest looking at the fabricated front rocker/inboard shock/spring front suspensions of the late 60's early 70's F1 and Cart chassis, an airfoil profile, could be part of the upper wishbone design in metal or carbon fiber. Oddly enough, the reference to wood brings to mind a post, on the Splinter sportscar, (checkered posted I think) which is all wood construction, all hail Marcos. A lot of different possibilities.

[Conceptual]

Hate to admit he had a good idea, I admired, but, Conceptual touched on this in another thread. Without knowing more details of your design, I'd suggest looking at the fabricated front rocker/inboard shock/spring front suspensions of the late 60's early 70's F1 and Cart chassis, an airfoil profile, could be part of the upper wishbone design in metal or carbon fiber. Oddly enough, the reference to wood brings to mind a post, on the Splinter sportscar, (checkered posted I think) which is all wood construction, all hail Marcos. A lot of different possibilities.

...I think I'm gonna cry

That was the most touching thing Carlos has ever said about me.

[Krispy]

Do you have any pictures of your car? Are you trying to generate downforce vs drag or just drag force calculations?

[OrStateAero]

It's been a long time, but I do have pics of the wooden platform we made

CassonWest was my old username I guess.