I dont like their design. Looks like too much drag to me and doesnt really handle all the effed up air at the back of the car. I would think with the hatchback you need to smooth out the airflow at the rear which means keeping the wing at roof level or just an inch or so higher at most and trail it out far back from the car.

I would think the one pictured below would be ideal

 

I've seen quite a few different set ups, but more commonly with something like the M7 design. Attached a few below.

 

I think that might be more a reflection of 'the only game in town.'

All the vendors resell his stuff.

GPGarage makes one but you would have to import from Italy.

The SneedSpeed design is definitely better but you pay more and it isnt as easy on the eyes.

The best way to handle it would be custom made something similar to the Schirra mini cooper or the Onasled racing Mini cooper which is really the holy grail of R53 race cars.

Just my view. When I get more free time which just seems like its never going to happen I want to do some heavy reading on race aero like straight up textbooks and see how to do this properly.

 

This is a rear wing!

 

Oh ya! Reminds me of those crazy aero set ups you see at The World Time Attack Challenge in Australia. Even the ones that have the wing on the front of the car too.

 

Yes I was going to reference this one too but I was assuming none of us have plans for 900 hp.

The thing that is noteworthy here is the second deck spoiler which does a lot of help hatchbacks. Check out Grays Garage who does an excellent video on civic hatchback deck spoiler.

 

Also I think another thing worth pointing out is that this basically doesn't run a rear bumper which is probably the best aero mod you could make on a mini R53. Once you change the exhaust the rear bumper is basically a huge parachute aerodynamically that you have to drag around.

 

That is a rear wing all right.


Check out the countryman rear wing WRC, that's one of the different ones i have seen.

 

You should see the front wing on that thing to balance out that sucker

 

WRC as of late never really rock much of a wing. I bet the FIA has prett strict limits on that

 

Great thread and love reading it, just wanted to say to keep up the great work and looking foreward to reading what happens next with the car


Best Regards / Alex

 

Cheers mate. Thank you for the encouragement

I wish I had more to update on these days but work has clobbered me.

On Saturday I managed to install my Sparco Evo seat. It was a pretty straightforward install the only issue was that I needed to drill a hole into the right side Brey Krause seat bracket to bolt the seat belt assembly into the bracket itself. I needed a larger drill bit so went down to home depot and got a new Milwaukee bit set out of the the project (buying tools is fun).

What would have been an even more annoying issue but turned out not to be was the either Sparco or the company that shipped the seat OG Racing did not provide the hardware to bolt the seat itself into the bracket. Luckily i had some torx bolts (likely taken off my car) that fit perfectly. (A lot of times projects don't work out this smoothly for me).

Other than that I did a little bit of basic maintenance replacing a burnt out rear tail light and also remounted and shifted some tires around to make sure all the sticky rubber is up front where it needs to be.

Next track day is 28 Feb. I will give an update and post pics for sure.

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Oh one more note. I actually ordered the M7 exhaust heat shield because it came highly recommended by my friend Sergio to keep underhood temps down. M7 had a free shipping promotion over the weekend and I figured why not its $139 and maybe do some good. Will keep you guys posted.

The to-do list is growing very rapidly

 

Yea, the WRC wing does look like they took the factory JCW wing off of an R56 and made it a oval.

 

 

Now that is a set up! I have a funny picture of myself playing and I have my helmet on.

 

I should be a little more honest ... work and this rig has been keeping me busy.

I race GT3 on project cars a ton ... the RUF GT3 is my fav but all the lap records are set with the Mclaren i noticed. Playing against ppl from all over the worrld is fun but i have been getting crashed out a lot by drivers who missed a couple of (all) break markers and smashed into me from behind... starting to get pretty frustrating so want to move to Iracing very soon.

Track time is just soo cheap for once

 

i did a 7:20 on the nurburgring nordschleife in an aston martin vantage gt3 last night racing my little bro time trial

i was keeping it clean and tiddy and there is easily another half min i could carve out

then i saw the lap record is a flat 6min in a Mclaren gt3 car .... fawk me

 

I've never been amazing at those racing games. I don't know what it is. I'm also extremely horrible at Wii tennis and was nationally ranked when I was in high school.

My buddy has iRacing and uses a rig called Playseat with a Logitech G27 wheel/pedal set up. He told me it's what I should practice with vs. those games. As I'm sure you know it teaches you a lot and you get to race people all around the world at the world tracks. One day I'll invest in this.

 

yea I do not profess to be good at it but it certainly has its role in driver training and given the difficulty of training/practicing for motorsport vs how easy it is to practice a sport like soccer playing a sim is better than doing nothing.

I see the benefits as this:

1. Learning tracks
2. Learning to find and use reference points
3. Learning to adjust those reference points to try new things
4. Racecraft
5. Emotional control in racing situations
6. Training reflexes
7. Pit strategy practice
8. Tinkering with tire pressures, antiroll bars etc.
9. Learning to conserve tires, fuel, in endurance situations
10. Learning to change driving style to suit the car youre in i.e. midengine vs front etc.

One thing I do in sim only that I dont want to become a habit is that I will wiggle the wheel some times to test the grip the front tires have since I dont have as much input telling me exactly what grip is like. I will do this on corner entry and just after the apex to test what my grip levels are like. Of course if i dont get the wiggle right I end of needing to do all sorts of extra corrections.

 

I saw the Louis Hamilton/Tony Stewart car swap at Watkins Glen a few years back. Hamilton had never drive the track before and Stewart has never driven the long course. They both spent a day on a simulator and then proceeded to almost break records in their respective swapped cars, with rain tires on. Shows what a simulator can do for you....

 

Say, about the wing comments...isn't it a choice between having a wing that provides down force vs a wing to straighten out the air behind the car (reduce drag?)? If that is the case then could the M7 wing, which looks like it is for adding down force, be augmented with a second, lower, wing that smooths out the flow behind the car?

I have seen one wing that works with the little base Cooper winglet. That appears to do more to smooth out the air in the back. It seems that, along with the diffuser, would reduce drag....

or am I missing something here?

 

If the rear wing is flush with the roof line it is smoothing out airflow i.e. reducing drag ... if it is above it, then they are aiming for downforce

ideally I would want one that is flush with roof line and a second wing that basically wrap along the base of the rear window line. This is what I have gleaned and learned from my armchair dabbling in aero so take with grain of salt and then chase with hard liquor several times and please dont flame me if im wrong

 

I guess that is what I was thinking...although I am not sure why at the base of the window works better than above the roof line... It seem that above the roof would be cleaner air, making for a better airfoil.

For this one, I may need the help of my three really good friends who I have been known to call upon when I have a difficult conundrum to puzzle out ... The Mad Elf, Blithering Idiot and Insanity...(barley wines, if you must know) ...

Hey, Ya know that if you make it out of carbon fiber it will work great no matter where you put it.

 

having a second wing at the base of window helps smooth the airflow coming off the wing above it ...which also smooths airflow. This configuration is fairly common on hatchbacks overseas.