So, this is the trailer I have. I purchased this a while ago, specifically to fit my Factory Five Cobra replica when I was racing that. Great little trailer. But it’s too low in the back.
In order to fit the Exocet wing, I shortened the NASCAR mounts a bit, to put the wing below the roll cage.
BUT…. always looking for another second or two. I swapped to a Wang last season, and that did give me more downforce. I think. Maybe. Hard to tell. Didn’t make as big of a difference as I thought it would. There are some slower corners where the car really needs more traction – Like turn #11 at High Plains. I wanted to get the wing up in to some cleaner air, hoping for better effect without a lot of drag. But, I still need to get it into the trailer fairly quickly. Sometimes heavy microstorms kick up rather quickly – especially at Pueblo Motorsports Park. Occasionally, you want to duck in rather fast.
Of course, there’s nothing available on the market. I had to make my own. I think it will do what I want, and I had a fun time doing it.
I purchased this 7″ lathe at Harbor Freight on a close-out a few years back. It’s been in the basement in it’s crate since then. I bought this tubing notcher from Eastwood many years ago. It doesn’t get a lot of use, but it has come in handy a few times.
The lathe isn’t anything fancy. And a real machinist will call it junk. I get that. But for my use, it worked just fine, and was very easy to use. I haven’t used a lathe since high school metal shop. That was another century. And, it might have been steam powered; I don’t recall exactly. It didn’t take me any time at all to figure it out.
The trick here is to make a stable platform, that’s above the roll bar, is adjustable in the range I expect to use, and folds down quickly and easily.
It appears to be very stable. It’s easily adjustable from 0* to 8*. And, it will quickly fold down, simply by removing three bolts. All the bolts and rod ends are 5/16″. The adjuster rods have 4 black stripes on one end. That end is a left hand thread. It’s currently set at 3*.
I’m not exactly a great welder, especially MIG welding aluminum. But they’re solid enough to hold. Like my friend Gil, once said, “I’m not a good welder. But I can grind really well!”
We have a race coming up in a couple of weeks. We’ll see how it goes. If it doesn’t work out, I have the old mounting parts in the pit box so I can lower it back down if needed. I’ll let you know how it goes.
4/10/2022 – At La Hunta Raceway, La Junta, CO
How does it work? Great! I set the Wang at 3*. A good place to start, I think. It was a huge improvement. I mean…. Huge!
I was able to get on the gas so much sooner. It never spun the rear tires. A couple of times, I even managed to get a little understeer. The car has never done that before. Now I need to try and install a front wing.