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Old 23rd March 2006 | 18:23
  #84 (permalink)  
RatherBeFlying
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Joined: Sep 2001
: CPL
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From: Toronto
The front and rear spoilers of F1 cars are mounted very close to the two sets of gear. I suspect that the downforce vectors are located between the axles, in which case there is no unloading of an axle. In the case that spoiler(s) are located beyond an axle:
  1. the moment arm is enormously less that that from a tailplane so that the result is very little unloading of the opposite axle -- or the car goes off the road
  2. Any unloading from one spoiler is more than counterbalanced by the action of its opposite number.
In the case of a/c we are dealing with moment arms of a hundred feet or so as opposed to much less in F1.
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