Front Wing – March 2023

So, I’ve been thinking about a front wing for a while. The rear Wang on the higher mount really seemed to help.

The front wing mounts are going to be a challenge. I have the Exomotive mounts for the NASCAR COT wing. But, I couldn’t find a COT wing. And this is a V8 car – the radiator is mounted in FRONT of the frame. The I4 radiator is mounted behind the square tubes.

This is how a I4 car would be built. And the wing mounts would attach to the horizontal square bars. Easy.
Because of space limitations, this is where my radiator sits. Hmmm. This will be a challenge.
And, it all has to finder under the nose cone. Pretty tight fit.
I started by making 4 brackets out of 3/16″ steel. Tried to get them as close to the same as I could.
Brackets were welded to the sides of the frame.
Using the lathe again, I made two cross bars from the same 5/8″ Aluminum bar stock that I made the rear wing mount from. Then the brackets from 9 Lives was attached to the bars with heavy duty U-bolts.
I had to trim the supports a smidgen so they didn’t hit the radiator.
Looking good, right? Nooooo! The alum bar stock wasn’t strong enough. Way too much flex and movement. Not acceptable.

So, I wne on line and ordered some 5/8″ heavy wall steel tubing, and made new bars. Drilled and tapped the ends for 10mm x1.50 bolts. Now they’re strong enough. When the wing is bolted on, I can apply my entire – and considerable – body weight to the ends with very little deflection.

Now it’s time to fit the nose. And this created more problems. Heavy sigh.

Because I installed the radiator about an inch to the right, the brackets would not fit under the cowl. I had to cut off the other ones, and build something new. Once that fit correctly, I discovered that hex head bolts hit the cowling on the left side. I changed them to button heads. Then the top of the supports hit the very top of the cowling. I had to trim the support a smidgen.

Redesigned brackets. Button head bolts. Trimmed the top of the supports.
Since the brackets are asymetrical, this is how I found the center.

Finally, everything fit the way I wanted it. Next step is to take it all apart, and make it pretty. Kinda. Not real pretty. Because, well, Race car.

I chose the same blue, so everything matches.
I didn’t mask it very well, because no one will see it.
This is the finished product. I know it looks wonky, but it is straight and level.
This is how much adjustment there is, and how I marked it for quick changes. I’ll start here and see how it goes.

If I were to do this again, I would like the wing to be Higher. I would order the same wing, but with the mounts on the bottom. I could flip the supports upside down, and mount the wing about even with the hood. Would that be better? IDK!

Anyway, we don’t race again until April. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Update: September, 2023

I used the front wing all season. It seemed like I was struggling every weekend. Not nearly as fast as I have been in the past. I tried various “fixes”, and changes to my driving. Just having an off year, I guess.

Last weekend (Sept 30-Oct1) we were at High Plains International Raceway. I really like this track; it’s fun and challenging. I can usually run about 2:01-2:02. My best is 2:00.

Saturday, the conditions were about as perfect as they would ever get: warm air, hot track, new tires. I was driving pretty hard, but ran a fairly consistent 2:05, with an occasional 2:04. Not very good. Frustrating, too.

Just for fun, I removed the front wing on Sunday morning for the first session at 0830. Conditions were not great – cloudy, cool air, cold track, very windy, and a bit dusty from a night of high winds. I ran a 2:03. 2 seconds faster under much worse conditions. Throughout the day I ran a consistent 2:02 with an occasional 2:01!

Needless to say, the front wing belongs on the Wall of Shame, and not on the car. 🙂