High wind and high speeds...

cleanbluesky

cleanbluesky

cleanbluesky

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2 Nov 2004
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Lent my MX-5 to a mysterious friend who reports to have taken it *slightly* above the NSL by mistake on a long road... :p

What my fully-insured friend describes was that while he was entertaining the high speeds, it felt almost as if the car was taking very slight either left or right jumps with every strong gust...

So my question is, does driving at high speeds make a car significantly more susceptible to the influence of wind... was it only noticable because the MX-5 is fairly light
 
Yes

that is why them impose speed limits on the Second Severn Bridge not just for Lorries (although they are more susceptible than a car would be)...
 
depends on more on the cars aerodynamics some cars will have less downforce at higer speeds so it is easier for them to be knocked off course
 
mattx2 said:
depends on more on the cars aerodynamics some cars will have less downforce at higer speeds so it is easier for them to be knocked off course
Click to expand...

Not many road cars have downforce.

At higher speeds the front of most cars start to lift making it start wandering
 
The MG F is the same, an extended front lip on the bottom of the bumper (abpout 1 inch) helps it go away. If your friend was to want to make is more precise at speed he could try adding a splitter?

HT
 
An air difuser thing (F1 stylee!)

AKA (Halford stick on tat) and does actually VERY little for a normal road car unless your usually at the 100mph plus mark!
 
my C3 suffers badly when its windy and on a motorway, you can feel the car get swept to one side or the other, but I dont know about high speed it only does 105mph
 
one of these:

http://www.mikesatur.co.uk/images/n500mgsplitter.jpg

helps the MGs front end to stay much more in control at speeds > 80 - 90 ish on the motoray. I was amazed with the difference it made for such a small lip. I wouldn't describe anything that actually helps the behaviour of the car as 'stick on tat'?

in answer to your question yes it does make it more suseptible as most cars (the MG F and the MX-5 included I'm sure) actually produce a small amount of lift at high speeds or so I've been led to believe. This would result in less pressure on the tyres and less grip if my understanding of physics is correct. If you have less grip it's going to be affected more by the wind I think. I'm sure you could get a small front splitter for the MX-5 that didn't make it look too much like a barry special, it might help if you care.

Paul
 
I drive over the severn bridge a lot and it can get quite hairy in the CTR when the winds up thats for sure, to the point it has pushed me halfway in to another lane before now when I've been giving it a bit too much and a gust took me by surprise.

Defiantly down to the side profile of the car in my case, as I've never felt it half as bad in anything else, including a 306 which I regularly go across in.
 
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