Pikes Peak 2022, Redemption for Team Evasive and the Model 3 Tesla-Part 2

The new diffuser goes past the rear suspension.  Although the angle is steep, it was tuft and flow vis tested for separation and found to be working well. You can see slots in the diffuser for the lower control arms to articulate.  The new lower and more rearward wing position activates flow in the diffuser better as well.

A new front nose was made for the project by Artisan Spirits, who also made the car’s wide-body kit, which closes up the air intake to improve airflow around the front of the car.  A vertical surface below the air intake also helps the front splitter generate more stagnation pressure with no drag penalty. Stagnation plates in front of the tires, increase splitter effectiveness, reduce wheel well pressure for less lift and reduce drag.  The notch in the plates serves as a vortex generator that creates a side vortex that helps reduce wheel well pressure and the air curling under the car.

A new splitter has more front diffuser area and volume.

 

The front diffuser helps drive a pressure differential across the splitter.  It also reduces drag by reducing the CFD hotspot in the front of the tires.   Overall the changes have shifted the downforce balance toward the front of the car, greatly improving front grip and reducing drag enough to improve top speed by about 4 mph.  I forgot to take pictures of it but new side skirts with their own splitter also recover spillover energy to create more downforce and also help prevent airflow from disrupting under-car airflow.

4 comments

  1. Very cool! Congrats to Dai and the team! BEV has come a long way, and this format is perfect for the current state of battery tech. Exciting times!

  2. Mike, these Pikes Peak race support stories are the best. When you talk about this car reaching the damping limits of conventional shocks, what are you options when that happens?

    1. since we were using the stiffest commercially available springs, fortunately this was not an issue. If we had to somehow go stiffer, I would have to find another manufacturer and possibly do something like off-road shocks that have bigger pistons and more fluid flow.

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