Car Wings

Racing cars have many shapes and features. One of these is the addition of a fixed horizontal wing above the back end of the car. This is said to give the car an advantage in a race. What would that advantage be?

• A. The advantage is that the wing lifts the car, making it easier to accelerate to high speeds.
• B. The advantage is that the wing's effect is to push down on the car, giving it better traction, which is an advantage in accelerating and rounding corners.
• C. The advantage is that the wing lifts the car, making it lighter and increasing the miles per gallon, gas efficiency, which is an advantage in a race..
• D. There is no advantage. It just makes the car look neat.

See if you picked correctly.

Answer

Car Wings - Answer = B

The wing is actually like an upside down airplane wing (air foil). It exerts a downward force on the car (which increases with the cars speed) giving the car greater traction and thus greater accelerating and cornering ability. (Some information from The Flying Circus of Physics by Jearl Walker)

Return to the question.