How Effective is Your Aero? - Wind Tunnel Testing a Nissan 350Z 

These guys look like they've been wind tunnel testing for a while. Their hair is completely gone!

Man, these guys are living my dream. I wish I could work as an engineer doing these things. Making parts to improve performance, taking a car to a wind tunnel to improve aerodynamics. These are the projects I did while making my bachelor's degree

The Z is a nice platform to start a little bit heavy but really good car and the VQ is a reliable engine maybe you guys can build one in the future. Nice channel

The answer is ... more duct tape.

Fantastic video! I went to school there and have seen the wind tunnel in person. Incredible facility! This is also where I built my active aero wing 🙂

I don't know if anyone touched on this yet, but why did he cover up the hood vents too? They are an aerodynamic piece as much as the splitter and canards are. If he wanted to ONLY test downforce from the Lip/Canards/Wing then you would have to tape up the front end entirely. The hood will actually DECREASE lift in the front when air is flowing through it so that might have changed the results of this test for higher speed testing.

That's really cool. Amazing to see how much effect the rear wing can have on front down force.

Forgot to say a big thankyou for making this very useful video, my previous criticism may have been relevant but the big point is that without videos like this we would miss valuable info. Like how important it is to pay attention to front downforce on a Z33.

I goto to school here. I myself never been inside. Awesome to be part of something special. Ridge Back for life

Ayyy On point dyno.....Sasha is a guru when it comes to vq35's!!!

Fantastic video and very useful. Appreciate you helping us by posting a solid video.

I've been subscribed to Sasha for a few years now. Awesome!

A little late maybe, but i do find Aero videos super interesting! Not knowing whats allowed in this racing class, a longer splitter with some propper triangular endplated to block off the escaping flow to the sides, this will generate a much bigger positive pressure area ontop of the splitter and against the front of the car and will significantly increase the front downforce. making the splitter point upwards, to catch air underneath the car and making the front axle the lowest part of the car accellerating the air and just using a 2 degree rake should also make significant negative lift underneath the entire car.

"We had too much wing." *looks at car* "You don't say!"

Very nice facility. I am stuck using miniature models at my school's wind tunnels.

Another great video!

great video guys, very informative. thank you

coolest video yet

4:18 looks like matt fara.

I imagine a ricer linking to this video to make his cardboard spoiler valid :I *edit* yo wth i just stumbled upon this video and saw my 2yr old COMMENT WAS TOP COMMENT LMAO

I love the tech you guys do! It reminds me of the old Sport Compact Car magazine's articles. But you're in Canada, so it's pronounced Zed.

Love the high tech video, very interesting! and the fact that you guys are up here in Ontario is awesome! Where you guys just here for the video? Or do you live here in Canada?

I like how every aerodynamic video I watch is always testing or drawings of a 350z

Great video! Who would I contact to be able to use this video for an interactive wind tunnel exhibit in a museum? Thanks!

Do you think adding front wheel arch vents will help a lot too, to increase front down force? do you have any experiments showing this importance of front wheel arch venting on force v/s downforce?

Did they test it with the hood vents uncovered at all? That in itself can bring about lift since that will push air up under the hood with nowhere to go. Awesome video coverage, subscribed now!

this seems like a very inaccurate tunnel. The tunnel should be on a 5 belt system. One that runs under the car that can simulate the ground moving and one under each wheel spinning them at speed. That front downforce number is probably way off. Entire thing is probably inaccurate.

Really interesting. How many hours of wind tunnel time did this setup take?

Love this!!!

Interesting, wonder if they have enough cooling to compensate for closing the nose and cowl vents.

Is there anywhere I can see more of this 350z? It looks stunning compared to mine haha.

Haha love seeing a channel from my hometown area.. I'm in automotive engineering at uoit and on the sae Motorsports team. hopefully I'll be able to bring my supra to the tunnel soon

That is a centre for excellence 😲

i go to school here!!!

Should I put an adjustable GT wing on my G35 pv35 skyline or a lip trunk spoiler?? I had some rear lift at high speed. I had reverse rake (because my car is lowered about 2 inches) and probably in need for an alignment. I felt the rear lifting around 100mph/160kmh. Since then I've lowered the front now i have positive rake. 1 finger gap in the front, 2 fingers in the back. I don't like how it looks but its feels super stable at 100mph/160mph. Also since lowering the car cuts throw air with ease doing 100 feels like 40. No wind noise, body roll, or nose dive or squat. The only thing was slight rear lift because of my reverse rake. I haven't had It passed 160kmh since adjusting ride height but I could use more downforce. Now i worry at too much downforce might create front lift and drag. So should I get a trunk lip spoiler to improve drag or a wing/airfoil to improve downforce? I like pushing my car but like feeling it stability even at high speed. I like the being sucked into the ground and control wings give you at high speed but also I like the way a low drag car cuts through air like a hot knife through butter. My car does that but I wish It had more downforce without the effect of creating more drag like big wings produce.

2:34 great job.. i want to as, what is the hight of the plywood at the rear tyre?

Why was the air ducts being taped up considered a good option? Isn’t that airflow important for cooling?

does the wind tunnel measure the drag value too?

im just soo glad im part of this generation,just think about weather changer conditions inside of a chamber is mind blowing. aerodynamic tuning lol

I had a choice of this school or another for mechanical engineering, this is making me reconsider my choice

Very cool!

I have to wonder what is the cost difference if you hire a CFD guy to model your car versus testing in the wind tunnel like this

What’s the name of the background song??? Can’t find it in the RU-vid library :(

It does make sense that most of the downloaded is on the rear. The rear wing is huge.

So is it a good ideal to get a wing or it’s Pointless?

Hey I go to school there!

THE ULTIMATE TUNEEEEEEEEE

@zach shainline (zachary) You can find all the details here: speed.academy/fast-nissan-350z-race-car-vq-power-itb/

Dude.. I'm applying to the University you filmed this at

what kinda wing how many inches ? cms???

So, are they going to tape up all their vents when they race?

"Engineering 101 on steroids." More like Engineering 599.

Does anybody know what wing that is on that car

Wonder what the drag coefficient is now?

Sasha is genius

some one please answer. i have a 350z and i put a wing about 2 to 3 inches from the edge is that bad? or should i have put it more up?

what wind speeds are they testoing at?

Why does closing the front bumper inlets and especially the cowl area increased the downforce on the front?

so what program is this under?????

Are they testing with the windows open?

Can't understand the testing procedure here, why wouldn't you do all the aero add on's first before testing? Then adjust the front/rear balance as indicated by the test results.

But why the background wall was white, wouldn't it be more beficial if it would be some darker color so you would see the smoke lines better?

God that 350z is beautiful.

Anybody can help me with what the guy is saying at 5:12, when he says "...it doesn't make sense to have a front... ??? downforce ???"

I came here looking for videos in which you actually get to see cars getting tested in a wind tunnel. I got a full 15 seconds of footage (6:36 - 6:51) and you can't even see the smoke unless you squint. A more fitting title for this video would be "Talking About Wind Tunnel Testing a Nissan 350Z"

I'm not a expert but should the windows be up ?

I really like to see how bad the aerodynamics on the mullet mustang is. Lol. I know the hood likes to move around at highway speeds

it was a little obvious, that the front had no downforce, the splitter was almost completely flat with the ground, especially with the massive rear spoiler making the rear squat. Nice 350z, cool test!!!

What about the tires spinning?

Wool tuft testing is something you can DIY easily, spend a day driving around with cameras and a car covered in confetti and the results can be very useful! Autospeed wrote about this years ago www.autospeed.com/cms/article.html?&title=Aero-Testing-Part-1&A=108656

Is that the Sasha guy who had the fully built na motor?

Is it possible to go "too slow" and crash cause of the low speed when using big wings. is it just a legend they tell everywhere? for example you slip off the track entering a corner 100kph but going 130kph you make it through.. someone please tell me

All Honda, mugen, spoon all wind tunnel tested great for circuit

was this before he went widebody?

does that run camber?

That weld in the into doesn't look too good :/ too fast a travel speed for the volts and wire speed settings it looks like.

looks like the rpf1 wheels are top notch

Add canards and check if that would help the front stay grounded.

Song at the beginning???

Whats the music in the intro???

What wing is that?

Wow he calls it a wing because he knows the difference. Hope more people watch this video and find out the difference between a wing and a spoiler

I would love to bring my 3000gt with active aero to see how it works :) too bad i dont have money... :( but good to know this is near toronto

5:47 paul heyman .o.

Sooooo... no taking into account drag force?

saying nothing about the drag - really? and wouldn't closing braking ducts in front cause problems with cooling?

how about the S30Z

hell yeah getting his own race car in a wind tunnel, thats the dopest shit ever for a personal car

is that freshkicks dahh?!

Why don't u Tell me how to fix the 3 gear shift

What type of wing is that?

Without rolling tires and the car traveling over pavement at the same rate it passes through the ambient air, the wind generated by the tunnel fans is only a substitute and not an accurate application of atmospheric effects, the car must move the and the wheels must be spinning to create ground effect, Magnus effect, all that tunnel does is test Bernouli's principle and not the full scope just a better idea than none at all

Why they are closing the hood vents to increase the front downforce??? I think that doing so they have the contrary effect.

basically its better to have more rake than lift. dont over do the downforce on the rear

song?

i wish we could have seen the numbers better. that was a vital part of the vid for me missed

would be interesting if they tested an F1 car in there :D

i bet those wheels kick up some nasty turbulence when they're spinning.

song name?

Goes to show a Ricer looking wing actually works. So next time you see a big wing, it may not suit YOUR taste (definition of RICE to many) it doesn't mean it doesn't function. To those that say it needs to have lots of power before it becomes relevant, the last time I say an active or powered rear spoiler/wing (eg Porsche and Bugatti etc) they start to operate at speeds of just 100kmh. Therefore any normal car would benefit from a spoiler.