Carbon Fibre tailgate - updates and tips

[Phaeton91]

@EGTE good point - I should have been referring to lift rather than downforce.

I can appreciate that for the GT430’s enormous wing there would need to be some balancing at the front and the splitter and various other details around wheel arches etc achieve that.

For the 410 vs 400, it would seem that there is possibly a different undertray and possibly the different spoiler design although it doesn’t look significantly more aggressive.

Like most others, there is rarely an opportunity to get to the speeds where we would notice lift.  I did however get the opportunity to really push on recently (completely legally) and can’t say I felt the car was completely planted at higher speeds.  
 

I appreciate its light but without changing tailgate back and recreating the scenario I was in, I questioned if it needed something more at the front to balance out the ducktail eg, an additional lip.

[EGTE]

That's interesting/concerning that it didn't feel planted. Was it light at the front in particular, then?

[Bravo73]

10 hours ago, Phaeton91 said:

Does anyone know what the aerodynamic differences are between the CF tailgate and the standard 400 tailgate.

I suspect that the difference in downforce between the two would be negligible at best, even at much higher speeds of 150mph+. 

I would also be amazed if anyone except for Gavin Kershaw (and his minions) could feel the difference (without instrumentation showing the relative downforce). 

[Phaeton91]

4 hours ago, EGTE said:

That's interesting/concerning that it didn't feel planted. Was it light at the front in particular, then?

Yes, it was the front, from around 130/140 on.  The back was fine.  

[EGTE]

If you're going to do those speeds again, perhaps consider a GT410 Sport front bumper, which is a copy of the the GT430 one but without the extra lip spoiler?

 

[Phaeton91]

Thanks for helping.  

It’s definitely not a regular occurrence and unlikely to be repeated - more now I noticed it, I’ve mentally gone into investigate and fix it mode.

Agreed though, changing front bumper is an option. Equally viable would be to swap back to the 400 tailgate if I could have established that the duck tail altered the balance.

I’ll get my tracking and wheel balance re-checked just in case they are out even slightly and contributing in some way.  Then look at options from there - albeit I won’t be able to recreate the event!

Edited July 21 by Phaeton91