Or is it pure eye candy?

If it were RWD I could better understand the importance of keeping downward pressure on the back end at speed. Does it actually DO anything on a Mini?

 

Well..... It does NOT keep the boot end clean!

 

You still need some downforce on the back to keep the rear planted but it's unlikely that the spoiler does anything but look pretty for 99% of people.

 

It does work buy causing some down force. The only problem is that it causes a good amount of drag. The MINI has the drag coefficient of a Dodge Durango.
http://www.mini2.com/forum/second-ge...nt-0-39-a.html

 

It's basically just Bling

 

It keeps the back planted above 150mph.....or so I'm told!

Or it makes the car look cool.

I'm going with the cool!

 

It does keep the window on my S cleaner than the window on our Justa without the spoiler. So it is doing something. How much is anyone's guess. Next, I go with bling.

 

I read somewhere the the spoiler on the cooper and more so on the coupe actually directs airflow to reduce rear down force helping keep the balance of the car

 

I know on the R53 that without the spoiler it can get 5mph faster around Daytona.

 

More likely had a headwind down the backstretch!

 

The giant wing on my old EVO VIII did something at 150 MPH (I can testify to it) the excuse for a spoiler on a MINI does NOTHING! Even the M7 C-wing falls about an inch (and a couple mounting points) short of providing any bennefit at ANY speed! All they really do is add to the drag, unless you go to the extremes.

 

I'm not aerodynamic professor, but why would all JCW Challenge Series cars have them? I have a feeling the right wing will reduce drag and aren't designed for more force on the rear wheels. That's exactly what this car does not need.

 

The rear wing is there to reduce the Bernoulli effect as the car increases speed.

If you think about it, a car like the coupe is shaped like an air foil. Air traveling over the top of the car has to travel faster than air flowing under the car. This creates a lift. The lift affects the entire car. If it went fast enough it would get light enough to lose traction.

The wing, creates force down on the car to counter act the lift effect. It doesn't have to be much because there probably isn't much lift until a car hits 100+ mph.

So yes it is there for a functional purpose but it probably isn't needed unless you hit speeds of 100+.

 

That is not what I was told.....

 

I'm confused, your original post states "I know on the R53..."

Now you're saying that you don't really "know" anything for sure you are just reiterating what someone else told you! You really have no direct knowledge of that which you state as fact! Sorry, but sounds about right for you.

 

I still say it's Bling!

Although I could see a slight disruption of a the lifting body effect on the car overall. Adding significant rear downforce to a front wheel drive car doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to me, but I could be wrong on this one.

 

You are. I don't know about the specifics of the MINI, but adding downforce on one end of a car only has to do with what end of the car needs help at speed. It has nothing to do with which end has the drive wheels.

In general (for a lot of reasons), cars tend to understeer more at low speeds and oversteer more at high speeds. FWD, RWD, AWD cars all do this. So it makes sense to add rear traction at higher speeds, and you can do that with aerodynamics by adding a wing.

Usually wings have little if any effect until seriously extra-legal speeds are reached, so on just about all street cars wings and spoilers can be considered "bling". But just because a car drives the front wheels doesn't make aero at the rear of the car useless.

 

Sounds Good, I'll go with that!

 

I am saying that the drivers from RSR Friday at Daytona told me and about 3 other people that they gained 5mph buy taking off the spoiler.



They gained that because the down force it was causing was also causeing drag on the car. Yes I a fwd still needs rear down force to keep the rear end from spinning out in the turns. It doesn't need a lot but, it still needs it.