Mustang Supercar Racing Success

[PAH]

Guys,

 

It's good to see Dick Johnson's Car 17 doing so well at the moment.  He's given the sport good support over the years. 

 

Why is the Mustang going so well?  I am guessing that it has to be the same mass as the Commodore - correct?  So why is it cleaning up the ZB Commodes?  Does the Mustang cut the through air with less drag?  Or has the Mustang been given too much wing and front spoiler?

 

I know the arguments for NASCAR style racing rather than the Improved Production formula that we used to have back in the 1980's, but I wish we could revert to something like the 1980's formula.  Look at what going on now:

 

*  It looks like they've massaged the Mustang roof to make it fit over the standard roll cage.  Correct?  Did they have to shorten the VF wheelbase?

*  The ZB Commode racer is a V8 RWD whereas the best ZB street car is an east-west V6 with the addition of a drive system to the rear wheels.

*  The Nissan racer is a V8 RWD whereas the best Nissan street car is an east-west V6 with FWD.

*  The fact that Supercar racing is a "parity sport" means that the Mustang might be adjusted to slow it down.  Where's the parity for the Nissan?

*  None of the current race cars use the engine or drivetrains fitted to our street cars. 

*  The cars we see selling for hundreds of thousands of dollars today (GTHOs XU-1s, 350 Monaros etc) pull big $ because Bathurst made them famous.  That's not happening any more because there's no link between our street cars and the cars we see at Bathurst. 

 

But back to my first questions:

 

Why is the Mustang going so well?  Is it has the same mass as the Commodore?  Does the Mustang cut the through air with less drag?  Does the Mustang have too much wing?  The rear wing looks enormous.

 

 

PAH

[k31th]

2 hours ago, PAH said:

1. Why is the Mustang going so well? 

2. Is it has the same mass as the Commodore? 

3. Does the Mustang cut the through air with less drag? 

4. Does the Mustang have too much wing?  The rear wing looks enormous.

1. that's anybody's guess, but I'd guess that it's probably a weight distribution effect on the confidence of the drivers.

 

2. Yes, it has identical mass.

 

3. No, it has identical drag.

 

4. No, it has the same wing as the other cars. Of course it looks enormous, but those "endplates", which are bigger, don't actually effect airflow, they just mount the part that actually provides the downforce.

[MaStars]

From what I have been told (friends from uni that work at DJR and other V8SC teams), the mustangs did (simulation and early testing) actually have a better drag co-eff and also down force. To the point they even made changes to the rear wing of the other cars (commonwhore and Nissan) to reduce their drag to better match that of the Mustang, but my guess is they haven't done it enough to balance it out, it will take them time to balance the aero and drag for all the cars.

[k31th]

in the coverage, they said that the governing body signed it off as having the same aerodynamic drag as the other cars in the field, hence it's weird front shape, so what you've just said sounds like hearsay to me.

[EvilDaifu]

anybody got some good pics?

[MBAF]

5 hours ago, k31th said:

1. that's anybody's guess, but I'd guess that it's probably a weight distribution effect on the confidence of the drivers.

 

2. Yes, it has identical mass.

 

3. No, it has identical drag.

 

4. No, it has the same wing as the other cars. Of course it looks enormous, but those "endplates", which are bigger, don't actually effect airflow, they just mount the part that actually provides the downforce.

where do you get your facts keith? its been proven already that the mustang has a far lower center of gravity as a start point not to mention your last point. The wing on the falcon is remarkably different to that of the other 2 brands in the field so much so that to produce the same amount of down force in the rear it needs no where near as much angle, this is also visible by the vortices it produces on the straight much like the f1 cars meaning the airflow is extremely well set and likely due to the lower roof line of the mustang.

 

This alone would explain the great tyre wear and extremely good handling characteristics that have been shown mid corner on both tracks so far.

[k31th]

from the coverage and associated articles.

[PAH]

Guys,

 

Check this out:

 

https://www.motoring.com.au/motorsport-mustang-supercar-to-be-slowed-117532/

 

 

PAH

[k31th]

interesting read... this quote stood out to me most:

Quote

The Holden and Nissan teams think the DJRTP Mustangs have been built significantly underweight and then ballasted. They are less concerned about the Tickford cars

Why would they be only concerned about DJRTP Mustangs when Tickford also are having similar success at the pointy end... #flogs.

 

"concerns about a rear endplate"... a giant flat piece of metal/CF that would potentially allow for better cornering aerodynamics? seems like such a thing would reduce cornering performance, rather than increase it, to me.

 

I'm interested to see these CofG measurements as you're welcome to have your CofG wherever you want due to there currently being no rules surrounding its implementation... if they do draft up some rules, I wonder how long those rules would take to go from paper to enforcement and how strict those rules could possibly be...