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Verus Engineering 987.2 Front Splitter and Air Dam
Roughly one year ago we started designing and analyzing a front splitter and air dam combo specifically for the 987.2 chassis. Our goal was to create a front splitter that could be used on the street and put down lap times at the track. This means the splitter needs to work at reasonable ride heights and still add significant downforce to the vehicle. Producing roughly 30% of the downforce of our Ventus 2 package, the front splitter adds over 300 lbs of downforce to the vehicle at 120 MPH.
Carbon Composite Front Splitter:
This part of the kit is produced from a carbon thermoplastic. It is robust, light, and stiff; making it a great candidate for a front splitter material. This material is used in motorsports series such as F1, IndyCar, and NASCAR and is quite literally bulletproof. Carbon fiber and fiberglass is known to crack if it hits something hard; this material will deform but not crack and generally can be fixed after hitting something.
For the front splitter to function well; it needs to extend rearward and give a nice area for low pressure to act upon. Our front splitter also aids in feeding the OEM front diffusers on the Porsche which further improves efficiency and effectiveness.
Carbon Fiber Air Dam:
The carbon air dam lowers the front splitter so that it is parallel to the ground plane and fills in the area between the splitter and the body to allow a high-pressure pocket to form. The carbon air dam utilizes floating nut plates to secure the splitter to it and also captures the OEM bumper’s groove detail to increase strength.
How did we design the components?
We utilize scan data to design components as well as utilize scanned vehicle models to produce CFD models for testing. All components are designed in CAD and then produced from this CAD geometry.
The design was tested thoroughly within CFD to ensure that the splitter produces an appropriate amount of downforce for the rear wing in our Ventus 2 kit. It was also tested to ensure that the front splitter does not disrupt airflow to the rear diffuser and does not add a significant amount of drag to the vehicle.
Price: Pricing for the front splitter, air dam, and hardware kit for a full install is $2595.95
Creating a CFD Model
Creating a CFD model from a scan is a long and tedious process. This is done with the combination of scanning software and CAD. This is the real bottleneck of developing an aerodynamic package for a vehicle.
Development Goals
The goal that we set out to achieve was an aerodynamic package that had good downforce for a heavily tracked Cayman but was also very street-able. Vehicles that are street-able need to watch ride height and all underbody aerodynamic components. The main concerns for street-ability were the front splitter and diffuser strakes. Front Splitter:
The front splitter needs to be as short as possible while still creating enough downforce to balance out the rear wing. Having a short splitter means it is less likely to hit objects on the street and the vehicle can be set up with a lower static front ride height. Diffuser Strakes:
Diffuser strakes can add a substantial amount of performance gain to the rear diffuser. However, they hang low on the rear of the car. To ensure this will not be an issue on the street, we made them out of hard durable plastic. This will ensure proper function of a strake while not being concerned with damage by road obstacles.
Development Phase
From the stock analysis, we went through 25 major design changes, not including some minor changes in between. Final Design
The whole system met our development goals, especially for a street-able, high downforce setup. The front splitter was kept to a minimum length with help from the dive planes. The rear diffuser strakes are designed to flex when impacted and also kept as high as possible to the chassis without negatively impacting performance. The rear wing airfoil and endplates were optimized for maximum performance with a low drag penalty. Each and every component was developed to work with each other in harmony for the best aerodynamic performance available in such a package while being well balanced. Performance
The downforce and drag of the total car are in the maps below. Each color plots a different wing angle, but at a fixed ride height of 90mm FRH and 205mm RRH measured from the front splitter to the ground in the front and from the rear diffuser to the ground in the rear. Also note the factory car made 140 lbs of lift at 120mph, which meant we had to overcome that lift to start to make downforce.
Testing
Coast Down Testing
We followed the SAE standard of coast down testing as close as we could. We coasted down from 80mph to around 10mph with 3 different cases; the wing at 0 degrees, the wing at 6 degrees, and wing at 12 degrees. The data was recorded using an AIM data logger and 4 runs were done and then averaged. Elevation changes were ignored because it could not be accurately calculated. Runs were made on the same day, at the same location, back to back.
The 0-degree angle of attack took the longest to coast down. This logically makes sense because it has the least amount of drag slowing it down.
The 12 and 6-degree angle of attack slow down quicker but they are close together. This also makes logical sense because the drag from 12-6 degrees is less overall than the drag from 0-6 degrees.
From the coast down testing data, calculation of the coefficient of drag (cd) was completed. From this, the ability to compare simulated CFD drag to coast down testing drag was possible.
The real world (experiment) and CFD on the 12-degree angle of attack correlated extremely well.
At 6 degrees angle of attack, the real world experiment showed less overall drag than we calculated in CFD.
At 0 degree angle of attack, the real world experiment also showed less overall drag than calculated in CFD. However, with both 6 and 0 have similar trends, this most likely was an early separation on part of the CFD model.
Overall, the real world results correlate well to CFD estimated data. The drag numbers are still very close even though 6 and 0-degree angle of attack is not as close as the 12-degree angle of attack. It could also be a change in wind direction during the coast down test that caused the slight skew.
Track Testing
The aerodynamic kit was then fully tested on the track during the summer of 2018. The car was fashioned with a data acquisition system to collect data which included 3 laser ride height sensors. Ride heights correlated with downforce numbers when corrected for weight transfer and roll. We are still working on optimizing suspension setup to go with the added downforce.
Last edited by Verus-Eric; 02-05-2019 at 11:06 AM.
Yes, the splitter does work with the center radiator in that they do not interfere with one another. That being said; airflow out of the center radiator will be reduced. We plan to track our shop 987.2 heavily this year and will be able to report back any water temp issues but we do not believe we will have any.
GearOnePerformance in Pennsylvania; which is whom we worked with on designing the 987.2 kit, tracked their car substantially in 2018. They have a manual 2010 which does not have a center radiator and have not had an issue with temperatures so we do not expect to see temperature issues either.
That being said; if we do see cooling issues we have already planned to utilize the GT4/GT3 style front bumper vent or a GT4 styled front bumper where the air from the center radiator is evacuated out the top vs. the bottom. This is better for aerodynamics and was the reasoning behind why we made this call.
A center radiator with substantial air flow is an absolute must when tracking these cars at anything over 90°, which is basically May to October in much of the US. No amount of downforce could offset the detrimental effects and possible serious damage from inadequate cooling.
Maybe you guys could offer cutting 4 squares or 2 rectangles in the splitter at the center radiator exit? If not, I could only recommend this to the stance crowd. That'd be a shame since it looks like such a well built and functional piece!
A center radiator with substantial air flow is an absolute must when tracking these cars at anything over 90°, which is basically May to October in much of the US. No amount of downforce could offset the detrimental effects and possible serious damage from inadequate cooling.
Maybe you guys could offer cutting 4 squares or 2 rectangles in the splitter at the center radiator exit? If not, I could only recommend this to the stance crowd. That'd be a shame since it looks like such a well built and functional piece!
Zach,
I completely understand where you are coming from and your concern. However, Paul and I (the two engineers/owners of Verus) have over 15 years of experience in the cooling industry before we started our own business. We worked for the leading motorsport cooling supplier in the world; helping supply radiators, oil coolers, charge air coolers, cooling blocks, etc for teams from F1, NASCAR, IndyCar to WEC, Grand Am/Tudor (when I worked there), to Trophy Trucks and everything in between. We have a bit more knowledge than most when it comes to cooling heavily tracked vehicles and believe that any issue that may come up can be remedied and resolved.
There are multiple ways to utilize this splitter while ensuring the center radiator is vented well. We have already found a few simple, free, modifications to the fender liners to improve airflow out of the side radiators which will improve cooling. Again, we plan to track the car heavily this summer and attend multiple track outings when the temps get hot. We will, of course, report back our findings in this thread and the shop build thread which we plan to start soon as well. I assure you, the shop 987.2 we have is not going to become a stance car in our hands.
There are multiple ways to utilize this splitter while ensuring the center radiator is vented well. We have already found a few simple, free, modifications to the fender liners to improve airflow out of the side radiators which will improve cooling. Again, we plan to track the car heavily this summer and attend multiple track outings when the temps get hot. We will, of course, report back our findings in this thread and the shop build thread which we plan to start soon as well. I assure you, the shop 987.2 we have is not going to become a stance car in our hands.
Any chance you could share the side radiator modifications? At some point when I get aluminum radiators I'll ditch the running lights and open up the front ducts but until then any cooling improvement will be helpful. First outing is March 1st at Road Atlanta! Thank you
Any chance you could share the side radiator modifications? At some point when I get aluminum radiators I'll ditch the running lights and open up the front ducts but until then any cooling improvement will be helpful. First outing is March 1st at Road Atlanta! Thank you
The fender liners can be opened up to improve flow out of the radiator and into the fender well. I, of course, did not take any photos when I did this though. I will add it to the build thread that we are working on starting. You can do this with a Dremel pretty easily.
Originally Posted by Code
Wow, all this looks amazing!!! Added to my list of things to buy next.
Any chance you could share the side radiator modifications? At some point when I get aluminum radiators I'll ditch the running lights and open up the front ducts but until then any cooling improvement will be helpful. First outing is March 1st at Road Atlanta! Thank you
02-05-2019, 10:41 AM
Verus Engineering 987.2 Front Splitter and Air Dam
. We will be thoroughly testing the aero kit and cooling this year.
