"Dominate with Downforce" Science Fair Project

[Steve85]

The problem:
"Which spoiler design and angle will create the most downforce?"

Hypothesis:
"The spoiler with wickerbill at 45° will create the most downforce."

Project:
Build model car
Build two spoilers with adjustable attachment
Put car on scale and blow air over the car
Measure the difference in mass at different angles on the spoilers.

Background:
My son Michael is in 7th grade and all 7th and 8th graders have to do a science fair project. Idea, hypothesis, test, results, etc. He's into that stuff so he's been looking forward to doing it.

Last August we went to the Friday practice day for the IMSA race at VIR. His interest in cars really goes beyond "that's cool" to how things work, tires, aero (loves big wings), engines. We often hit up the NASA events too where MMers are running so he gets pretty close-up with the cars. At the IMSA race, he asked a lot about tires, besides the other huge differences between a NASA and IMSA event is the number of tire mfr's there with huge trailers constantly mounting tires. We talked about compounds, rain vs dry, "who makes the best tire", and "who buys the tires". That last one is a tough question when you everything from major factory teams to Joe Blow running his Miata in a support race and the "professional amateur" support races in between.

On the way home he asked if he could do something tire related for his project. His idea: "Next time DJ has a race, he can try out different tires and we'll see which one is best." Pride swelled that my son just proposed a legit tire testing session for his project but ultimately had to explain how that was probably a bit much to ask. We threw around a few other ideas to test tires and he also mentioned testing wing styles.

Fast forward a few months and he needs to settle on an idea and we start talking about spoilers. He wants to determine which spoiler design makes the most downforce. I asked how he thought we could test it, I was pretty sure he was going to come back with renting the Corvette Racing wind tunnel, but his little brain was working that day and he said "We can put them on a scale and blow air over it". *tear* We talked a little more and I mentioned testing different angles too. So we had a rough plan, he proposed it to his teacher and got it accepted.

We threw around some ideas and settled on building a model out of a pinewood derby car. We talked about the spoiler designs to build and I guess he had some pretty intricate designs in his head. Especially the one where there is a "bump" in the middle, flat, attached from the top (Lamborghini GT3). I explained that building those would be a bit much and suggested something like with and without wickerbill. So off to Lowes we went for supplies, time to build a racin car!


Materials


Rough cut out of model


Measuring end plate length to get the spoiler higher than the roof


Snipping the end plates piece. He was juuuuuust barely strong enough!


Smoothing out the rough edges.


Spoiler number 1 marked for hole drilling and where to bend it so it fits inside the end plates / mounts.


Non-wickerbill spoiler and finished end plate mounts. The bottom hole is to mount to the car and the two top holes were intended to mount the spoiler at different heights.Ultimately didn't need spoiler mount holes since it ended up being an "inteference fit".


Second spoiler and wickerbill ready to be glued on. I guided him through the first spoiler but made sure he did all the "work". When it came to making the second one I left him alone to refer to his measurements and what he learned on how to cut, center punch, drill, bend etc. and it turned out great!


Drilling the end plate mounting holes.


Installing the end plates




"Track test" ready!


Board in progress. Space was a little tight so DJ ultimately got bumped by Senna.(He loves the Senna documentary)

From there we went to Lowes to get some paint in his favorite color orange and we walked out with metallic gold and an "M" sticker. So yeah, it's a gold M car.

Testing videos filmed at poor angle:

First test of spoiler without the wickerbill:
[youtube]7xAPUXuRPVg[/youtube]

Second test, with wickerbill:
[youtube]r6ZuxIvGjuw[/youtube]

This was an incredibly fun project to do with him and and I couldn't be more proud of how much thought, effort and desire he put into it. Seeing the look on his face when it worked was priceless!

The judging was a couple days ago so we should know the results today. I think top 5 or top 10 move on to have a chance at presenting at JMU fair. Hopefully, this is to be continued...

[Senor_Taylor]

Sweet! My 7th grade project was about burning rates of wood and it rained for like 6 weekend straight so I just didn't do it and I got an F.

Glad to see he's doing much better!

[*insertusernamehere*]

Lmao Taylor. I'm dead.

All I could focus on in your entire write up was the way you referred to your son as "little guy" and so on. My brother is the same age and i treat him like a grown ass man. I make him wash the dishes and take out the trash when I'm asked to. Cleaning the bathrooms is next hahaha. Oh yeah I made him figure out how to get the last half of the leaves up in the fall too. I was veto'd on the snow shoveling by my parents cause he might hurt himself. I guess that's a brotherly view compared to the parents view is. "Always a baby in our eyes" as my parents say. I'm excited to see whatever Michael comes up with for future projects! He's certainly smarter than me at that age, maybe even still lol

[D_Eclipse9916]

Really cool project and that he is thinking that much.

I actually may be doing some tire testing believe it or not at VIR in March.

I love this stuff. Would have been interesting if he tested it as a gurney flap at 90 degrees vs a wicker bill. Funny things happen with aero as that flap at 90 just seems like a brick but it actually improves aero efficiency and the total production of downforce by increasing the wing angle before airflow stall underneath the wing.

A+++ I hope he stays interested. It is something I should have pursued more and would have been a much more fulfilling career than my own consulting gig.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[BLINGMW]

nice :thumbup:

[davej]

That's an amazing project, he did an awesome job!! An A+ parenting for sure!

It's been one of my favorite things to watch their brains grasp and run with a concept. Let us know if/when the show comes to JMU, I'd love to check it out.

[Jake]

I think your son may know more than me about downforce, Steve. A+ job right here!

[Jeff]

That's is really cool! Great work.

[Steve85]

Thanks all!

Unfortunately he wasn't selected to move on. He was pretty bummed since it meant so much to him and it wasn't a pre-planned just follow the instructions type project from the interwebs. We got to see all the projects and there really were some other great projects, I just hope not too many of the "color by number" moved on, I like the idea of thinking outside the box and design, build, test your own for better or worse. One of the top projects was testing solutions for road ice/snow removal - really, what kid has their heart set on finding the best way to prevent future snow days?

It's been one of my favorite things to watch their brains grasp and run with a concept. Let us know if/when the show comes to JMU, I'd love to check it out.

Yeah, every once in a while you get a real look into how much they are learning and absorbing. I think that was part for me. Not just in the project but talking about it beforehand and what to do how much of all the things he's asked about cars that has stuck with him.

Sweet! My 7th grade project was about burning rates of wood and it rained for like 6 weekend straight so I just didn't do it and I got an F.

Glad to see he's doing much better!

:lol:

I guess that's a brotherly view compared to the parents view is. "Always a baby in our eyes" as my parents say.

Yup, I have a daughter probably about your age (from my wife's first marriage) and she has a son of her own now. I still wonder how an 8yr old girl hula-hooping to her cranked up karaoke machine can be such a great mom.

Really cool project and that he is thinking that much.

I actually may be doing some tire testing believe it or not at VIR in March.

I love this stuff. Would have been interesting if he tested it as a gurney flap at 90 degrees vs a wicker bill. Funny things happen with aero as that flap at 90 just seems like a brick but it actually improves aero efficiency and the total production of downforce by increasing the wing angle before airflow stall underneath the wing.

I got a tire temp taker if you need one, he works for real cheap and loves playing with the laser thermometers :lol: !

Yeah, now that we have the model and setup built, I'd like to try doing some different things. The other thing we thought about were the end plates on the model not extending up past the spoiler. I doubt there would be an impact on such a small model at cheap hair dryer speeds but maybe...

[ScottyB]

that rules - maybe we'll see him in the pits in a couple years, managing someone's racecar

[Kaan]

next year add foil shape! great little project.