Smindustries

I've been working with Aeromotions to develop an active rear wing for Porsche 997 applications. The wing is on and functioning. The next step is tuning the wing to define the angles of attack for maximum downforce before stall for braking, for lowest-drag in linear acceleration and maneuvering angles for lateral acceleration.

Here's a clip of the car at low-speeds showing the wing operating. If you click the video and visit the YouTube page, you can view it in HD:



The setup is a complete decklid replacement so that the factory pieces can be saved for resale. It's shaping up to be a pretty slick piece of kit.

Land Jet

Cool. That's gonna be great when you get the timing and attack angled sorted out.

cfjan

Very cool.. ! How many inputs are used to determine the angle? (such as throttle position, brake position, velocity, etc.)

Smindustries

There's a VSS input, but it's not hooked up and it may be unnecessary. The control unit has a 3-axis accelerometer which provides all the data necessary to control the wing.

The idea was to have a system that doesn't requiring hacking up the car and is completely reversible.

cfjan

That makes sense. It would make the product more universal too. Although I wonder if there's any instance that it would make sense to have more inputs from the driver than just the data collected from the accelerometer. (maybe anticipate what will happen next.. or just react quicker this way..)

savyboy

That would be the crystalballometer I think?

Sorry, couldn't resist.

Regarding the wing: Nifty cool, that will get you some attention on the road!

cfjan

Ha, I just meant that the driver inputs (say the throttle position, steering wheel angle, etc.) might be used to better predict the intention of the driver.. or slightly faster, before the car reacts to the inputs.. hence giving the wing a little bit of extra time to adjust..

Just thinking outloud... ha!

malmasri

Looks cool and turns heads but Does it add function to the car ?
Does adding wings make it fly down the track should you reverse the angle of attack downward????
What if you are driving with the direction of the wind??? Will it lift the rearend of the car if you break hard???
Or how about facing crosswind with turbulance while making a fast turn??
Sorry but I do not see the advantage at the speeds we drive even on racetracks....maybe Nascar would be more interested in the idea?
Critical but not sarcastic,,,Best of luck

Carrera GT

This reminds me of a video of a 911 on the Nurburgring with what appeared to be an active rear wing. Anyone know where that went?

Smindustries

I'm sorry, but your questions are so absurd that there's not a chance in Hell they're critical and not sarcastic. I take that you didn't bother to click the link I provided before replying. If you had, you would have seen that the device is neither a gimmick nor a joke.

I'll save you a click and tell you that active aero shaved nearly two seconds per lap off of a two-minute lap around Thunderhill on an E36 versus the same wing in static mode. The GT-R which won the last One Lap was equipped with an Aeromotions wing and set a wet skidpad record at Tire Rack's facility.

IPguy

The only thing is that active aero is banned in every racing organization that I am aware of...so this will be limited to street, DE and track day folks.

Smindustries

As far as I know, it's currently only legal here in the US in Redline's Time Attack series. One feature that is handy in series that don't allow active aero is the ability to use the on-the-fly adjustment during practice to determine the best angle of attack to provide the most balance between downforce and straight-line speed for a given circuit. The adjustment mechanism is then mechanically 'locked out' so that it will not move during qualifying or racing.

A walk around the paddock at any event (not just PCA) reveals wings that are set haphazardly to the point that they're stalling. The prevailing thought seems to be that 'More angle always equals more downforce,' however there is a point at which there is no benefit and actually hampers the car.

Having said that, I don't intend to go racing with the car and my time on the track is limited to DEs. The main benefit I'm looking for is to negate the squirreliness I get from the rear under hard braking for a slow corner and the wing's ability to provide maximum downforce when I need it is appealing to me. I'm a novice driver and I want the security that comes with stability. The factory allows for adjustment of their wings and Aeromotions has automated the adjustment. That's one less thing to wonder about.

So far, I've been really impressed with these guys. Not only have they created a product that looks only slightly different from the factory unit, they've made it in a manner that requires no permanent modifications to the car and they've also invested a lot of time and effort getting it right. They've even invested a lot of man hours using my car to make their CFD model more accurate so that there's no guesswork. Here's the first run of the model they sent me:



Disclaimer: I'm not involved with this company in any other way than being a happy customer so far.

AllanJ

Your tire pressures could be too high (always happened to me when the pressure got into the low 40's) and/or your LSD could be shot.

You might also want to consider another kind of lockout feature where the wing stays flat if you are below a certain speed. Driving around the city under 50mph will only wear out the wing movement motors/linkage prematurely if it's moving all the time. I'm not sure what speed threshold would make sense, but this firm should be able to give you an idea.

For the crystalballometer, it isn't that far fetched. Check this out: include a gps data logger with it and after a few mins it can know if you're doing laps on a track. Now it will know when you want to turn and go straight before you actually do it.

savyboy

Very cool website and quite serious product.

"Aeromotions is developing an active aero package for the 997: the Dynamic Wing RS, and the Dynamic Splitter RS. While the wing looks the same as the factory 997.1 GT3 RS wing, its unique blade design provides more downforce, lower drag, and the benefit of full active control.

Project RS is using the same computer design | track testing methods that led our Nissan GT-R package – a wing that helped break a 5-year-old wet skid pad record at the Tire Rack.

The Dynamic Wing RS will be offered as a complete 997 RS wing and deck lid replacement. This enables 997 owners run the Aeromotions’ RS package, and preserves the ability to return an RS to unmodified condition. The first package will be tested on the beautiful black RS pictured above"

Go look at the pics, titanium and carbon...so hot. Hope the company is successful, lots of good thinking there. Cheers to innovators in any industry.

85Gold

Not sure how much good a wing is at wet skid pad speeds. Seeing as an E46M3 was only .03 g's less than the GR-r @ Tire Rack. Now at speed i am sure downforce is a major help in the wet.

Peter