What does the rear wing actually do?
 

At the start of the weekends racing I broke off the rear wing and snapped the mount. Raced the rest of the day with no wing and I'm not actually sure if I noticed a difference. I did at the start over the jumps but I think it was psychological more than anything. I always thought it helped stability over jumps but I'm not 100% sure now and would be grateful for a more expert view.

I'm no expert, but would imagine the wing goes hand in hand with the cars overall aerodynamics - the wing would ensure a good air flow as the car moves and equally would imagine that is there to help with keeping the back end down thus increasing overall top end speed?

In 1/8th scale:

I personally have not run without or broken a wing off when running so cant commend much. I know of a few people that, have and they said and watching the car. It struggle's a lot more on larger jumps, as the wing plays a large roll in car control in the air. And how the car jumps too, At lower speeds you wouldn't notice as much in comparison in fast sections ect. It helps a lot to keep the rear planted to the ground, and will keep the rear more stable. Just generally makes the whole car more stable. But you are right, a fair bit is in the mindset but a lot will depend on the car-the wing that was used.. the speed of the track jumps ect...track high or low grip ect..

Genrale rule of thumb:

Slicker=Less grip track=Larger wings AKA High Downforce
Faster track in general

High Grip=Smaller wing's..standard/low one's
Smaller..slower track


Im sure other's will chime in with more detail:)

Aids stability when jumping and also provides downforce on high speed corners. The next time you race and you have a fast sweeping corner, try it with and without a rear wing, the rear will try to slide much more when the wing is removed

It means you were driving too slow.

It was a high grip track, 100% carpet. At the same time I was driving slow. I still can't believe that a 1/10th buggy wing provides much more downforce in corners though.

You would be surprised.. yeah on a small high grip track. It wouldn't be such a drastic handling change.. as if it was a large low grip track..

I fell foul of a broken wing in our last club league. Leading the final by half a lap when the wing crack and eventually broke off. I definitely noticed it on the sweepers and ended up losing the final as I couldn't carry the speed on the faster bits of the track, I also had to throttle differently in the air to keep the car level, it did feel harder to jump with.

In saying that i do run a 7" wing with a lot of gourney so would have a larger effect consider to a small wing with little or no gourney.

We run a high grip carpet track and frequently have a high speed corner at the end of the straight. This can generally be taken near flat out if you can resist the grip roll.

I broke my rear wing off in one race and then next time I went down the straight the car flew off the track. The downforce at high speed is certainly noticeable!

Exactly!!!!;)

Don't forget, this is 1/10th scale. The aerodynamic force of an rc car at 20mph is like that of a full sized car doing 200mph.

It's like any other change on your car. Moving a camber link position by 2mm can make a big difference to how it handles. That same difference on a full sized car would be 2cm

The air doesn't exactly scale like that but the wing makes a massive difference. This weekend I had terrible understeer at high speed with the 4wd, I went from 5mm or so of gurney to almost none and it was like a different car to drive. Not just at the end if the straight but in the infield too.

seem to remember from a previous post on here that the aerodynamic drag produced by the wing has more actual effect than the downforce created with the size of wings we use

think of the rear wing of a buggy to be like the 'flight' of a Dart

I think the function of a 10th or 8th scale rear wing works more due to aero drag than actual high/low pressure aerodynamics that a typical full size 'wing' would generate.

its more to do with forced re-direction of air than high/low pressure of an actual wing shaped wing.

but in short, you can tell the difference by just adding a 5mm gurney flap on the back of a wing, remove it completely and the car should feel appauling!

Its more the principles I was trying illustrate than the exact science :p

So the gist is stick the wing back on and drive faster. I can probably manage half of that. Thanks for the info everyone.

It's more likely that the rear wing is providing a bit of drag behind the centre of pressure, thus making the car more stable while it is on the ground. When it's in the air, all bets are off on the function of the wing, as it has nothing like an aerofoil cross section. When the car is descending, air comes at it from under and over the wing.

You can't scale the Laws of Physics, so the wing must be doing something, however little. Since the top guys have a range of wings to choose from, and do use different ones, it is reasonable to suppose that they make a difference.

It is also reasonable to suppose that if YOU don't notice a difference, you're not one of the top guys, and need to go faster!!! :D :lol: :thumbsup: Only joking...

All of the above and buggies look cack without wings! :lol:

if your track has big jumps, then the absence/presence of rear wing will determine your car's "flight" or trajectory during air time.

Without wanting to insult anyone.....whenever this question comes up on any RC forum, its asked by someone who doesn't have a sensitive enough feel for the car.

:blush: