Torque Shop: Race car spoilers ensure stability

I started following Formula One recently and came across the idea of “drag” affecting performance. Does it affect road cars too?

In simple terms, “drag” is any force that resists motion. Although this can result from factors such as friction, the major component of drag, especially in the context of a moving vehicle, is air resistance.

Minimising drag enables more speed.

Race cars have parts such as fins and spoilers that are shaped so that the fast-moving air is used to enhance stability at speed in the straights and through corners. The trade-off to this, unfortunately, is an increase in drag.

Adjustable aerodynamic appendages can reduce drag to allow higher top speeds as and where possible, and are often incorporated into race cars.

On Formula One cars, the rules allow the cars to reduce aerodynamic drag with a movable flap in the rear wing which opens to allow a smoother airflow.

Several high-performance road cars feature aerodynamic drag reduction elements. Some of these features can be automatically activated at a certain speed or switched on by the driver. There are also passive drag reduction appendages that flex at speed, allowing smoother airflow and, hence, higher road speeds.

For a road car – which generally has a much lower top speed – aerodynamic efficiency takes priority without compromising on the stability at speeds that the vehicle is designed for.

Partly due to this reason, electric vehicles tend to be designed with exceptional aerodynamics to maximise their drivable range on a full battery charge.