Front wing - WOW

Indy Lonnie

Indy Lonnie

Well-Known Member
I finally got my front wing mounted up from Nine Lives Racing. What a difference. The car is so much more stable and solid at speed. There is a noticeable difference at any speed above 30. The steering is much heavier, which is a great thing because of the electric steering. At the 55 - 70 it only takes a few fingers on the steering wheel to guide it. Before at highway speeds I would always have both hands on the steering wheel. The twitchiness is gone. I let go of the steering wheel at 60 for about a half mile and it tracked straight. Wow... the car really feels planted now. Bonus - my IATs are down at speed. They are now within 11* degrees of each other.

I spoke with Justin Reed last fall about his wing and decided to follow his lead. I ordered the Wang from Nine Lives Racing to match my rear Wang. It is 48” long with 16 1/2” spacing. I got the front Wang end plates as well with a 1/2” gurney flap. I mounted it at 10* to get the most downforce. I bought 2” x 1/8” aluminum angle from Home Depot. I used 2 - 24” sticks for the mount. I had to notch around both radiator hoses and notch a generous hole for the dzus fasteners with room to get the hood on and off. I also left a gap between the Wang and the nose to easily slide the hood on and off. The Wang needed a little trimming and some extra holes drilled to mount it up. I also had to notch the bodywork a smidge to allow the mount to pass through. The Wang is solidly mounted enough I can stand on it ( I’m 275 lbs). There is a little flex which I’m going to fix by swapping the mounts out to 3/16” thick aluminum. The ground clearance is 3 3/4”. I have a curb et the bottom of my driveway which I was worried about. No issue with scraping getting in and out.

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R

r3drckt

Goblin Guru
But does it look "right" or "good" having a front wing without a rear wing? and with the addition of the front wing, the rear wing may actually be beneficial now at speed. Who has a wind tunnel for testing? Maybe borrow a building from DF to convert?

In all seriousness, when I purchased the front splitter for my m240i years ago, BMW AG (I was stationed in Germany at the time) had a warning that adding the front wing could create instability in the car at speed without the rear trunk spoiler installed. While the Goblin has much different dynamics than a 2 series vehicle, it's something to consider about the aero of the goblin post installation of the front wing.
 
Desert Sasqwatch

Desert Sasqwatch

Goblin Guru
A rear wing on a Goblin in the stock location is adding downforce (if mounted high enough to be effective) behind the rear wheel centerline (a pivot point) that will push the front of the car upward making the front end lighter. By enclosing the underside of the nose fully and by adding a front wing/splitter/canards can help offset this with added downforce to the nose and reducing front end lift. There is a balance that needs to be determined with the amounts of downforce at each end- which I believe Justin Reed is probably close to the correct combination by watching his videos.
 
G

G Atsma

Goblin Guru
Mentioning "aerodynamics" in the same breath as "Goblin" is like doing the same with "rap" and "Beethoven".
We're talking about a tube frame with drivetrain, seats, and wheels.
You need a front wing because it is light up front, almost to a fault. The wing corrects that.
In the rear is the entire drivetrain and fuel tank, plus a healthy portion of the occupants. That end is PLANTED. No rear wing required, unless Formula I fantasizing is heavily involved.
The Beemer reference is irrelevant here, as aero is a major consideration in a full bodied, fairly aerodynamic car. Not so with a Goblin.
 
Brian74

Brian74

Goblin Guru
I’m debating drawing up a design for a bolt-on front cowling-contoured aluminum front wing soon. It would be a heck of an undertaking, but it seems to be one of the most beneficial modifications.
 
G

G Atsma

Goblin Guru
You see more race cars with front splitters/wings than rear wings. Rear spoilers are a different matter as they are usually part of the bodywork.
 
Waterdriver

Waterdriver

Goblin Guru
G Atsma said:
Mentioning "aerodynamics" in the same breath as "Goblin" is like doing the same with "rap" and "Beethoven".
We're talking about a tube frame with drivetrain, seats, and wheels.
You need a front wing because it is light up front, almost to a fault. The wing corrects that.
In the rear is the entire drivetrain and fuel tank, plus a healthy portion of the occupants. That end is PLANTED. No rear wing required, unless Formula I fantasizing is heavily involved.
The Beemer reference is irrelevant here, as aero is a major consideration in a full bodied, fairly aerodynamic car. Not so with a Goblin.
Click to expand...
Results vary on execution. A read on Eddie's results with his Ariel Atom.
 
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Indy Lonnie

Indy Lonnie

Well-Known Member
DCMoney said:
I'm not just not sure I can handle how out of place it looks.
Click to expand...
To each his own... I wasn't sure if I would like the look either, but now that I have driven it with the wing installed - no way I'm taking it off. I went out last Saturday evening and got photographed and videoed many times, and of course got asked what it was... Drove through my local car show and all attention was on the Goblin. Hate it or love it - it's staying.

Function over form. It generates 59 lbs of down-force @ 60 mph, 164 lbs @ 100 mph and 326 lbs @ 140. The down-force is noticeable at just 30 mph. Justin Reed ran lighter springs than the stock setup on the front coil-overs before his wing install. He warned me he had to up his spring-rate after he added his wing or he would bottom out at speed. The wing is for real and is doing what it is designed to do - make my Goblin more stable at speed.

This topic has been discussed many times on the forum. I guess we will wait until someone designs and is driving with a more aesthetically pleasing and functional front aero. Until them - I'm good!
 
G

Gtstorey

Goblin Guru
I think color matching it will go a long way to making it look more integrated.

Will it handle speed bumps and other normal road obstacles or is it too low?
 
DCMoney

DCMoney

Goblin Guru
Indy Lonnie said:
To each his own... I wasn't sure if I would like the look either, but now that I have driven it with the wing installed - no way I'm taking it off. I went out last Saturday evening and got photographed and videoed many times, and of course got asked what it was... Drove through my local car show and all attention was on the Goblin. Hate it or love it - it's staying.

Function over form. It generates 59 lbs of down-force @ 60 mph, 164 lbs @ 100 mph and 326 lbs @ 140. The down-force is noticeable at just 30 mph. Justin Reed ran lighter springs than the stock setup on the front coil-overs before his wing install. He warned me he had to up his spring-rate after he added his wing or he would bottom out at speed. The wing is for real and is doing what it is designed to do - make my Goblin more stable at speed.

This topic has been discussed many times on the forum. I guess we will wait until someone designs and is driving with a more aesthetically pleasing and functional front aero. Until them - I'm good!
Click to expand...
I get it function over form. I've being looking for a while for something like the skunkworx atom front wing for a goblin.

Putting some graphics or painting it might help making it not look like a snow plow on the front of the car.

I plotted a graph using 9lives data for their 70" wing and interpolated for a 48" wing to see what the theoretical force would be. Any reason why you and Justin went with a 48" and not larger?
 
DCMoney

DCMoney

Goblin Guru
!!!Warning Theoretical Data Below!!! None of this should be taken as true. Reading the below post may result in loss of IQ, bowel control, brain bleeding and potentially death.

Wanted to see what the theoretical numbers of a 48in front wing would produce at a 10degree AOA. Since 9lives has the data for a 70in wing, I used linear interpolation between 60mph and 140mph. plotted the known value for 100mph and drew in the arc connecting the 3 known values together to get something closer yet still theoretical.

This is not going to represent the actual force pushing down on the front of your car. You could calculate the moment about the front pivot point and get something yet again theoretical.

3/4" gurney flap adds roughly 30% more down force.

Data matches what lonny posted for a 1/2" gurney flap.

23380


23381


23384
 

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Indy Lonnie

Indy Lonnie

Well-Known Member
Gtstorey said:
I think color matching it will go a long way to making it look more integrated.

Will it handle speed bumps and other normal road obstacles or is it too low?
Click to expand...
Some speed bumps and driveway curbs have already been navigated. It's just under 4" - the front bodywork (hood) is just over 4". If anything scrapes it will be the mounts. The wing itself is at 7". I can actually see the driver side wing and end-plate while driving.

I actually like the bare aluminum look. I will just oil it up every once in a while like the rear wing. I also left the rear control arm, turbo, engine and trans bare as well.
rear wing.jpg
 
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