Nerd’s Eye View: SEMA 2015 – Part 2
Khiem Dinh is an engineer for Honeywell Turbo Technologies at the time of this writing. All statements and opinions expressed by Khiem Dinh are solely those of Khiem Dinh and not reflective of Honeywell Turbo Technologies.
There has been a gradual shift in the domestic car landscape over the past decade. Once only concerned about straight line speed, the OEMs now turn with the best of them. They also shifted from go-fast looking body work to actual go-fast enabling body work. We can no longer make fun of all the fake vents and scoops on the old Mustangs. Looking at the new Corvette, all those ducts and vents are 100% functional. (Please excuse the blurry pictures; I literally did not stop moving while flying through the show)
To handle constant road course track abuse, there must be extra cooling. GM fitted this horizontally mounted oil cooler at the bottom of the A/C condenser in the front bumper area. I first saw this concept on the BMW M5 in 2012.
Track day junkies know brake cooling is a must. So GM has built these optional brake ducts into the front bumper of the Vette.
The brake ducts guide air to these control arm mounted brake cooling air guides. As you MIQ readers know, Porsche has had this concept of the control arm mounted air guide for years and even Mitsubishi had little spatula sized air guides on the Evo. Of course I took the concept and modified it a bit for Project S2000. Anyway, back to the Corvette, notice the diffuser in the front under tray to get air to go up into the wheel well area to get more air to the air guides.
If you live up north and your Z06 is put away for hibernation during the snowy months, the control arm mounted brake cooling air guides could double as snow shovels. Anyway, this view gives a good look at how the brake ducts in the front bumper guide air to the control arm mounted air guides and also the diffuser in the under tray.
Chassis stiffness is critical to a good handling car and the Corvette stiffens up in a number of ways. The big piece of sheet metal going across the driveshaft tunnel should do wonders for stiffening things up. Optional carbon fiber braces (the thin strips) attach the front and rear subframes to the chassis. The flat underbody panels in the middle of the car help reduce aero drag.
