Saturday, August 8, 2009

Atom Rear Wing Progress - Strut Fitment Ver2

Steve from Aerosim stopped in yesterday to fit the latest version of the rear strut. He came out a month earlier and we learned a few tweaks were in order. This version fits well so he will machine the second piece along with the horizontal brace.

These pix show the aero features like the knife edge along the trailing edge of the strut. Notice how the struts are hollowed out but not completely cut through for weight savings while maintaining better aero. Can you tell that Steve worked on the aero on the last Lotus F1 car?

The rear wing is the dual element carbon fiber wing from ReVerie. It is super stiff, strong and a ridiculously light piece. This 5.5lb wonder is properly made from prepreg carbon fiber and autoclaved.

I am opting for the TMI front wing for my Atom. They've sorted a cost effective solution so I will have their front solution with our rear wing. We'll spend some time dialing in the balance as soon as I have them on the car.

2 comments:

andrew said...

Why does a carbon fiber wing need to be sterilized via autoclave?

PaulGrace said...

An autoclave is used for curing the resin under pressure to prevent bubbles from forming, not for sterilizing, in this case.

An autoclave is just a pressure oven, although they are most often used for medical sterilization.