355CH splitter

Because the rear 355C wing is a POS and offers little downforce. Oh a dead giveaway to a non-functional wing is one placed on a decklid unsupported by anything substantial. On a 355C what do you think would happen if a fat person sat on one of the uprights? That's the kind of force a real clubracer wing should be making around 120-150mph. A real pro wing found on a pro racecar would be even higher.

 

FBB - The rear wing has to do something!

 

Well it looks good. This is the diagram of how the 355C wing looks. See the tiny uprights and the flimsy attachments. The flimsy attachments go on the decklid and have no material support to the chassis. That means no function. You would not put a fat chick on your decklid and a real wing will put the weight of a fat chick on the back of your car. Basically if a wing is not making 100-300lbs at 120-150mph you can't feel it working and you won't need a splitter to balance the car. I ran my 348 with wing and splitter and without one or the other the car had dramatic handling charactor. It was really cool to put a splitter on and within a lap have to come into the pit to increase the wing. Likewise it was cool to feel the front end push like crazy with a real rear wing and no splitter.
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I remember reading something in the late '90s that the reason for the wing was more for stability in hard braking, not so much for extreme down force ie; not so much down force as to upset the front balance but enough to help the rear stay planted in hard braking.
I know my explanation lacks depth but I can't find the article I read so I'm trying to tax my memory. hahahaha

I don't think you were required to spend the money on the update, 17,000+ in '98 but, everyone did so there must have some advantage to it

Front spring rates were 2200 lbs/in. and the rears were 900 wouldn't that have something to do with it also.

 

Hmmm.... very interesting. I never drove a 355C, but in 360C a rear wing has a dramatic effect on braking stability. Even a small 355C sized wing makes a big difference on 360C under braking.

 

IMO there is a big difference between the 360c and 355c and I don't think a comparison is valid. The 360 has real downforce in its chassis. The 355c was a 1st gen aero car and quite frankly it wasn't all the good. Early rumor has it that 360C guys wrecked many a 360c trying to learn how to setup these cars mecahnically and then with aero which was a new thing to most of these drivers who mostly came from non-aero tintops. Today even the ricers understand aero and how to apply it in their racecars. There is alot of technique in braking too. I was on a racetrack with a prodriver in my Z06 before it became a racecar. I was driving about 140mph into a turn and gave the brakes all they had. The back end was wobbling as I deathgripped the wheel to control the car. When the pro took the controls we went into the same turn at an honest 160mph in my new vette!!! I swear I was going to loose paint on the landscape plowing I was positive would happen. He was so gentle on the brakes yet forceful that the car stuck cleanly through the corner with no issues. I was puzzled and to this day still work on trying to be that smooth. What I am leading up to is that a wing does help braking but good technique is better. I also found that I valued a wing more for speed on fast turns than under braking. I found that in the 348 at least which also ran big front springs little rear springs controling chassis rake helped not only mechanical over steer but antidive and thus braking stability. In other words in the 348 with a big rear wing above the roofline in clear air (not that little challenge thing) I could do without the wing for braking. While the 348 had no power I was about 2750-2800lbs so my numbers were very close to a 355c which I think were about 3100lbs so i think my comparison to a 355c is valid though I have never spent any hotlap time in a 355C with a wing. Maybe Rob will chime in since he races his 355C.

 

I am curious. Which wing do you recommend for the 355 CH and front air splitter?

 

Well for us non-pros with no money the best we can get is heresay of what works from others or wings like from

http://www.aprperformance.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=33&Itemid=44

APR for example had CFD we can see that implies their wings work vs. an ebay wing you hope works. Then you get friends who use wings and find out if they make any difference. In my own case APR did a custom splitter for me and the wing and I noticed huge differences. When my car ran one without the other my car was not driveable. Both were needed for balance and I was seeing 10-20mph differences in top speed on sub 130mph sweepers.

 

You may be right but Patrick Long would disagree with you. He drove my 355CH with the stock wing and commented that it had way more downforce than he expected or found in the 97 (or so) Porsches of the same generation.

 

IMO, I find it difficult to believe the 355 wing has little or no downforce.

 

As I said I don't know a 355C, but my post was not comparing a 360C versus a 355C. What I do know is that there is a huge difference under heavy braking between a stock 360C without any wing versus 360C with a smallish 355C wing mounted on the rear. Even if a 355C wing generates say only 100 pounds of down force that will make a big difference in handling. And 355C wing does have a proper chord to generate significant down force.

 

Well someone here could easily model the 355c wing and see its potential. I have no clue at what it may be. It looks to be poorly mounted which implies it will not make enough force to dent the decklid which we all know is very fragile. Also, clean air is so important to wing function. It could be that the flow over the 360 is very different from the flow over the 355 which I suspect it is. It is all that stuff about shapes and flow separations and turbulence and drag.

What will you be racing this year? Racing Vettes is getting very fun. We have a nice group of guys and the C5 and C6's are still pretty competative with each other.

 

I race mine and I have been able to detect the downforce a the three different settings. I keep it on the highest angle of attack on short tracks and the difference is noticeable. Exiting sweepers the downforce is sufficient to get exit understeer. The next lowest setting or wing reduction dials out the understeer. I am talking 60 to 90 mph here.