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This topic came across when I was reading the Sports Auto Supertest on the Ferrari 458. In Sports Auto Supertest, one of the testing criteria is the car's downforce (or lift). Sports Auto supertest uses Mercedes static wind tunnel to perform this test at 200km/h (or 124mph). In the case of the Ferrari 458, the downforce shown was shockingly low. It had 32kg of **gasp** LIFT in the front and 31kg of downforce in the rear. This result is very far off from Ferrari's own claim of 140kg of downforce at 200km/h and 360kg at 300km/h.
So I got curious and went onto Sport Auto's online database to look at the 12C and other cars:
The Mclaren did ok and it showed that Mclaren does not lie when it comes to their factory numbers. Mclaren claims that the MP4-12C produces 120kg of downforce at 186mph. Sports Auto supertest showed a 2kg of downforce in the front and 62kg of downforce in the rear at 200km/h. Using Square's law, the 12C will produce 120kg of downforce at approximately 272.27km/h (or 170.17mph), based on Sports Auto's number at 200km/h.
Other notables were:
Lamborghini Aventador 28kg of lift (Front) and 73kg of downforce (Rear)
Porsche GT3RS (997 MK2) 2kg of lift (Front) and 10kg of downforce (Rear)
Mercedes SLS AMG 41kg of lift (Front) and 8kg of downforce (Rear)
After seeing these data, I guess producing any type of downforce over the front wheels is quite a challenge for auto makers!
So I got curious and went onto Sport Auto's online database to look at the 12C and other cars:
The Mclaren did ok and it showed that Mclaren does not lie when it comes to their factory numbers. Mclaren claims that the MP4-12C produces 120kg of downforce at 186mph. Sports Auto supertest showed a 2kg of downforce in the front and 62kg of downforce in the rear at 200km/h. Using Square's law, the 12C will produce 120kg of downforce at approximately 272.27km/h (or 170.17mph), based on Sports Auto's number at 200km/h.
Other notables were:
Lamborghini Aventador 28kg of lift (Front) and 73kg of downforce (Rear)
Porsche GT3RS (997 MK2) 2kg of lift (Front) and 10kg of downforce (Rear)
Mercedes SLS AMG 41kg of lift (Front) and 8kg of downforce (Rear)
After seeing these data, I guess producing any type of downforce over the front wheels is quite a challenge for auto makers!