The coolant swirl pot and surge tank has a good home right here, a pretty convenient area above and to the side of the radiator. This is critical with the extremely low mounting position of the radiator. Full wheel tubs were made because it is critical to seal the wheel wells when trying to maximize pressure differentials while creating front downforce. A lot of people forget this detail and thus their front aero is half as effective as it could be due to the massive air leak the wheel wells can make.
Having most of the frontal heat exchanger air exit out the hood instead of blowing around in the engine compartment makes a huge difference in aero effectiveness, drag and cooling efficiency. By not pressurizing the engine compartment it is a lot easier to have a pressure differential between it and the car’s under body. The duct is shaped as much as possible to smooth out airflow. By introducing the heat exchanger exit air into a zone of lower pressure drag is reduced. Flow through the heat exchangers is also increased by the ducting, so heat exchanger effectiveness is also greatly improved.
Note the strut tower brace that supports the heat exchanger exit duct. This stiffens the chassis and holds the duct which is under quite a bit of pressure from the airflow.
Here is the opening in the hood where the duct exits. Usually, the area right past the front of the hood is a low-pressure zone, especially with cars like the R32 that have a blunt nose.
Here is the shape of the duct, although not ideal, it is better than blasting into the engine compartment and pressurizing it. The ducts do help aero as cars like the Ferrari Pista and the new Electric Jaguar have ducts here that do nothing but contribute to adding downforce.
The is the opening in the cowl for the air box. Previously this area had the intercooler, but there was not enough airflow for it to work well. The base of the windshield is typically a high-pressure area so this is a decent place to pick up intake air.
18 comments
Awesome, it lives! Always looking forwards to seeing where this puppy goes and glad to see it hasn’t been forgotten.
Mmm… yes, more updates on my favorite car of all time, I was wondering when I was gonna see this beauty again!
Really happy to see you’re still working away and this project hasn’t been forgotten!
I’m looking forward to seeing more updates – but even more to see this car successfully back out on the track!
Finally!
Like most, I have been waiting to see this thing tear up time attacks. Great work, and the simplifications are tremendous improvements
Interested to know which drive by wire setup you used with the Tilton pedal box, also which throttle body you use too. Looks awesome, keep at it!
Modified stock stuff
Awesome update, is there one by chance for the 86? I’m curious what had been tried for the bearing issue. Have you used awrx scavenge pump for the heads or is the oil accumulating elsewhere?
Any updates? This is one of my favorite projects and I haven’t found anything out about it
This is the project that got me to the site, glad to see some progress being made again!
Damn finally we get to see this beauty again!
Any plans for the coming season? It needs to see some time attacks again! It’s been too long.!
It lives!
Wonderful to see an update on the car’s development. Hope to see it down here in Australia for WTAC sometime in the future.
Mike,
Any reason you guys decided to route the downpipes/ wastegate pipes under the tunnel instead of routing them out to the passenger’s door?
The original plan was to have it exit over the top of the rear diffuser but that never got done.
I see.
I figured that by boxing the exhaust out of the passenger’ door you can seal up the belly of the car with flat panels…..
updates?
world time attack?
Any hopes that this will race someday?
Please I need more on this car