fatbillybob

At Montreal in F1 today gasly was moving slow in front of Verstapen. In the chicane Verstapen has to lift off because of slow Gasly ahead, looses aero grip, and understeers into the "Wall of Champions." That was pretty interesting. Does that kind of thing only happen at this highest level of motorsport or do clubracers in consumer level aero cars also have aero created problems in traffic?

ProCoach

In my experience GT cars are not an issue. F1 cars are another thing entirely.

fatbillybob

I was thinking consumber aero cars like stohrs and wolfs and van diemens and F4 cars those kinds of things.

Matt Romanowski

It depends on the cars. Even in GT cars, on rovals in the banking low down force cars can mess with the one in front. I didn't believe it until I watched it happen repeatedly. In this case it's rear grip, not front.

In winged cars, it certainly can happen, but at the club level it's not usually a factor like in Indy/F1.

ProCoach

Nope. Think of cars that have multiples of their weight as downforce (and the huge drag numbers that make the "wake" behind) to begin to adversely affect the following car, and at speeds well above those found in that corner.

Me? I think Max was pushing hard and made a mistake. Like a lot of great drivers there:

ProCoach

https://www.grandprix247.com/wp-cont...-track-map.jpg

The vMin is about 90 here. So the d/f is not really "switched on" in T9.

SkeerRacing

Aero grip killed me at Road America in GT3 Cup. Front tyres were effectively useless in the Carousel/Kink when within 3ish car lengths. Watkins was the same way.
Biggest takeaway first time I drove a 991 GT3R was "holy cow this thing loses front end when behind a car!" That was just from the steering wheel feel going down a straight too!
Anything 991 Cup and up, yes aero is effected. More aero dependent = more drastic effect further away.

Bring back Tunnel Cars please!

ProCoach

I think it's the speeds that are the factor. Scott Tucker's DSR car that Colin Braun tested at Road America could have an issue.

But at the Pit Straight chicane, even the F1 cars are going less than 90 at turn-in. I think VER misjudged it. Easy corner to get wrong, for sure.

Coochas

Keep in mind that F1 regulated the aero for this season to decrease this very phenomenon. It seems like it has helped the pursuing cars with tire wear but it still limits the ability to catch and pass.

And I agree that my take was that Max just made an error today.