This free gift of nature is everywhere and is used for a whole lot of things.
It plays a lot of roles in our lives. These could be negative or positive roles in the car's life.
Cooling
Its majorly in traffic that we get to see cars overheat,
this is as a result of heat build up in the engine and the failure of the radiator to disperse the heat. This dispersal is made possible thanks to the air blown on the radiator by its fan.
Wonder how the fan gets air to blow?
Through inlets in the vehicle's body. These inlets are called...
"Grilles".
The most common grille is the opening we see at the front of the car (its gotta breathe too you know)
Which doesn't just let air into the engine compartment but also tells us who its maker is as majority of them bear their maker's LOGO
some car makers even have "trademark-like" grilles.
Such as
BMW's Split kidney Grille
*Birdman's shoe on the "Horse Shoe" Grille of his Bugatti*
Rolls Royce's Vertical bars on Grille
to name a few.
As mentioned earlier, the grille isn't just that opening at the front of the car.
It's also the air inlets for the cooling of the brakes (which can produce quite an enormous amount of heat)
Lift
The faster we go, the lighter the car seems to get,"ryt"? and
You also remember slowing down drastically after a fast straight to go round sharp bends so that you don't get thrown off the road? AIR playing games with us.
(Would explain in detail later)
Anyhows, to reduce these negative effects of air, some cars are fitted with special "aeorofoils" to provide "downforce" and "reduce drag".
*Downforce: Downward thrust of the car, allowing the car tackle corners at high speed.
*Drag: Air resistance, this gives the car more to fight against leading to more fuel consumption.
Splitter
This is situated at the foremost part of the front bumper. It splits the air from the front and sends most above the car at high pressure and channeling the rest at low pressure (high velocity) underneath the car.
The reaction of the high pressure above the car and the low pressure underneath it creates downforce.
Diffuser
This is situated at the rearmost part of the car's under body. It simply slows the low pressure air from the bottom of the car and sends it out the rear at an angle that creates downforce.
Side Skirts
These are worn on the sides of the car to help channel the low pressure air to the rear of the car while keeping out as much high pressure air as possible
Spoilers
Located on the boot of a car. Its literally used to spoil the bad air that builds up at the rear of a moving car by "correcting" it as much as it can. Assists in reducing drag (better fuel efficiency)
Rear Wing
located on the same spot as the spoilers but more pronounced and helps in downforce creation.
Diffuser and Massive Rear Wings on an Audi R8
*The spoiler and rear wings are normally thought to be the same, they aren't as they have different functions and sizes.
*Neither of them increases vehicle speed.
On some cars they are flush with the vehicle body and deployed when needed or at will of the driver.
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