I want to play with aero a bit, and take some front aero off...
Is there a "best practice" about removing a dive plane in the front of the RS body? My car currently has two. Which one is typically removed first? Or alternatively, which dive plane has the least effect?
You should take the top dive plane off first. Phil told me that the dive planes add some downforce to the front but their main benefit is to improve the airflow down the side of he car with minimal increase in drag.
Don't be afraid to take all of them off because the SR3 still generates significant downforce without the dive planes. The lateral force I have felt in medium to high speed corners, and braking power gives me full confidence to run without dive planes.
Last weekend in Radical Cup at Barber MSP which does not have long straights, I drove every session except last race without dive planes. No difference in lap times for me, but I was slower in the back straight portion with dive planes. At tracks with longer straights, you should see better lap times and faster top speeds.
For warm and dry conditions, without dive planes and little less rear wing seems best. All of my testing is with fresh Hankook C52 compound (less than 10 heat cycles) on SR3 RSX 1500cc. If you testing in cool or wet conditions, or your tires have fallen off, then you may be better off with dive planes.
In my case (SR8 RS body), I've been battling snap oversteer at corner entry. Last time out I added more rear downforce and saw my lap times increase. I lost 5 mph on straights, and still had oversteer. I mostly run at Sebring with 5 long straights (120-150 mph), so this weekend I want to try less downforce all around.
I followed your suggestion and removed both dive planes. I also took a step out of the rear wing. My lap times came back (during my warmup sessions before I was really attempting to go fast)! The car felt much more balanced -- none of the rear twitchiness. Instead I could feel the front fighting for grip and I had to work harder to get the front to apex. Tire temps and pressures matched up too.
All in all, I think this will be my default setup for awhile. Many thanks!
Unfortunately, my gearbox failed and ended my weekend. 🙁
As we allready are on the diveplane section, does anyone know if diveplanes will steal air for cooling?
I feel i have more heat problems with my oilcooler in its location after mounting diveplanes.. is this just some placebo or fact?
and what can i do to increase airflow here.
Robert, my Gen1 SR8 had side scoops for extra airflow, along with a 3rd, front-mounted radiator. You can see both in this picture (it's the red one in the lower "bunk", lol).
@parsonsj aaaaha!! Then ill make one set of those. But that helped? Much or?
i have no issues with water temp since my pump is programmed to work after spesific temps. So even when blasting off on track inhot conditions im never above 88c… driving also without thermostat, but pump and fan goes on and off under specific conditions.
but my oil cooler is kind of hidding on the side of mye intercooler rad. And that makes some issues
Can't say if it helped -- the car came with it installed. But Radical market it as part of their "high temp kit". So they think it does. Or at least they think we think it does, lol.
It's certainly worth a try.
@lunatic, I agree with John that it is worth a try. When Radical released the SR10 the put scoops on the side in an effort to draw more air in. But I was told by one of my friends that is a Radical expert that they do more harm than good. So I am interested to hear if it improves airflow or not.
Another thing you may want to consider is changing side pods. Your car has the “standard downforce” side pods and the high downforce side pods do provide more cooling airflow. You also may want to consider changing to the RS (Gen 2) side pods because they provide even more cooling air and they have room for larger radiators.
@charleyhradicalsportscarregistry-com yeah i tried to find sidepods the ones like john has, with opening in front as well , but its just not possible to find anywhere. Out of production as ive heard, and aftermarked ones are SO bad it will just ruin the finnish of my car. Im really lucky my body looks good and fits 99.9%. No gaps or such
