Dodge Viper ACR wing stronger than your average spoiler
The elephantine rear airfoil bolted to the rear deck of the Dodge Viper ACR is not only highly functional, but it gets credit as being the first mass-produced carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) wing on a production car. Rear wings on high performance vehicles are designed to counter lift. Without aerodynamic aids, most vehicles become less stable and have reduced grip as velocities increase (worst case, the vehicle actually flies as did the Mercedes CLR at Le Mans in 1999). Chrysler's SRT Performance Group was tasked with building a faster variant of the Dodge Viper with the ACR, yet cutting weight at the same time. The team did extensive studies of wing profiles before settling on a 72-inch wide wing manufactured out of CFRP. While most wings have a structural core or ribbing, the ACR's hollow wing is comprised of just four layers of epoxy/carbon fiber weave with an outer UV-resistant clearcoat.
The wing is amazingly strong (as evidenced by the picture at right), yet it weighs just 7.5 lbs, 50 to 80 percent less than an aluminum or thermoplastic counterpart. Working in conjunction with a variable-geometry front splitter and dive planes, the oversized rear wing helps the Viper ACR achieve its targeted 1,000 lbs of downforce at 150 mph. That's enough to help Dodge's supercar sustain a cornering load of 1.5 Gs at speed – superior to many GT racing cars.
[Source: Composites World]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Jorge 2:34PM (8/13/2009)
Good to know!! So next time I have to step over one, I do not have to worry about breaking it. : )
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H4MM3R 2:51PM (8/13/2009)
Aweeesome!!!!!! Down Force for the win.
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JDM Life 2:40PM (8/13/2009)
I wont not find myself standing on my ride in the first place...
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Mike7 2:55PM (8/13/2009)
It looks like he's moments away from ending up on failblog.
BoxerFanatic 2:41PM (8/13/2009)
Just because the wing is strong, doesn't mean that the support mounts, or the bodywork the wing is bolted to is strong enough to hold that much concentrated weight... but good luck with that.
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83gtragtop 3:01PM (8/13/2009)
Totally agree. I have a hunch that if you removed that spoiler there would be two indentations where the spoiler mounts to the trunk lid.
swemfan 3:06PM (8/13/2009)
If the wing provides 1,000lbs of downforce or a portion thereof the supports and body are probably capable of supporting an individual much larger than the one shown above.
BigMcLargeHuge 3:06PM (8/13/2009)
The Viper produces more downforce on those 2 mounts at 100mph than that guy could possibly weigh.
I wouldn't be too worried about it.
Lemon 3:06PM (8/13/2009)
If the wing helps the car get 1000lbs of downforce at 150 mph, it had darn well better be able to hold a 200 lb man! Although the man is more of a point load than the distributed load that the air would produce, I would imagine that there is enough safety factor built into it that the wing (and mounts) to easily support his weight.
Can you imagine the castastrophe that would ensue if that thing snapped off at ~200mph during 'Ring testing?
BoxerFanatic 3:13PM (8/13/2009)
They said that the car generates 1000lbs of downforce... not that the wing does. The wing only provides a fraction of that.
Plus the weight of that man is leveraged on the end of that wing, magnifying his weight slightly on the near support, and could be levering upward on the offside mount.
Plus those supports are meant to evenly support the downforce of the wing, uniformly, not just all on one side. Not to mention individual fasteners that are meant to share loads, also.
Maybe it works, but it still seems foolish to me, and not guaranteed to be safe, or to not damage the car.
Chris O 3:37PM (8/13/2009)
It's already been pointed out that the splitter and diffuser provide quite a bit of that 1000 pounds of downforce, but there's something that a few of the doubters/cynics are missing... the 1000 pounds is generated at 150mph. The ACR is made for racing, and since the gearsets can be switched out for different types of tracks, it is reasonable to assume that (with proper gearing), the ACR can get up to somewhere in the 210mph range. At those speeds, the downforce will be much, much higher than the 1000 pounds.
Be certain that the engineers took into account a loading figure well in excess of anything that would ever be encountered by the car on the road (or on the track). I would really be surprised if the CF wing, despite its strength, wasn't still the weak link in the whole wing assembly.
Mr.Oak 2:44PM (8/13/2009)
Why wasn't this group of chrysler engineers consulted when they were building the Challenger, and other cars in Chrysler's portfolio.
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Mr.Oak 2:45PM (8/13/2009)
?
Frank 4:35PM (8/13/2009)
Maybe because the other cars don't cost $80,000, although I don't think there is anything fundamentally wrong with the Challenger. (Yes, I agree it would be nice if it could lose weight)
Farmboy 12:34AM (8/14/2009)
Lose weight by dropping that roof. :)
el dorko 3:04PM (8/13/2009)
did you delay posting this for 9 days just so it didn't seem so obvious that you and jalopnik "borrow" each others news?
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Michael Harley 3:07PM (8/13/2009)
News is public domain, last we checked.
- Mike
Steve 6:02PM (8/13/2009)
where will we see this picture in another 9 days?
FThorn 9:21PM (8/13/2009)
Jalopnik sucks
O.Z.Racing_UK 3:08PM (8/13/2009)
Try getting some fat guy on that wing then see what will happen.
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