Aerodynamic vs Mechanical Grip

[uzael]

I suppose I am a bit confused by the importance of each. Obviously the more aero grip/ downforce you have the faster the car can go in turns before passing the laterl grip rating of the tires. But does mechanical grip operate in the same fashion? Does it work better at one speed while aero is better at another? Or do they work together as a combined force, with mechanical grip simply translating the aerodyanmic grip effectively to the ground? Any help would be greatly appreicated.

[Guest]

I suppose I am a bit confused by the importance of each. Obviously the more aero grip/ downforce you have the faster the car can go in turns before passing the laterl grip rating of the tires. But does mechanical grip operate in the same fashion? Does it work better at one speed while aero is better at another? Or do they work together as a combined force, with mechanical grip simply translating the aerodyanmic grip effectively to the ground? Any help would be greatly appreicated.

I heard that around 60mph the car only relies on mechanical setup, as the air doesn't flow fast enough to make downforce. Around 100mph and above, its more about aerodynamic grip.

[joseff]

Road & Track did a lateral g-test on an Ganassi IndyCar (CART, back then) and I remember the mechanics saying that even at 30mph the cars generate "useful" downforce.

[pyry]

of course the tire grip doesnt change in theory, of course at higher speeds the tyres warm up more, thus reducing or bettering the grip(depending on the temperature), but the aerodynamic downforce is ^2 as the speed doubles, whereas the machanical grip remains the same, so the best grip it at the greatest speed. the tyre warmth can also be kept close to optimal with camber angels.

[Monstrobolaxa]

No expert hear....but the tire grip is called traction....the more weight on the tire the more grip it has.....and when I say weight....I mean somekind of force that decends in this case downforce created by the wings.

For example a F1 car could corner at a maximum of 1.05 G's without any aerodynamic devises......but with then he corners at over 3G's.

Go aerodynamics does influence the mechanical grip.

PS-just confirmed this in the book "Chassis Engineering" - Herb Adams (first chapter)