Wing Upright Failure
3,013 views · Published 16 November 2012 · 0:57 · Indexed 5 October 2026
Channel: Jack Olsen · 2012 · Autos & Vehicles
I keep trying to make lighter wing uprights, and this is the second time I've gone too far and suffered a failure. This is after several sessions where they held up fine. But going through turn 8 -- which is a high-speed right sweeper -- the uprights gave out and collapsed down. My rear facing camera happened to be catching the shadow of the wing at the moment it failed. The uprights were made out of 1/8" thick aluminum. But the wing generates a fair amount of negative lift. The next set of uprights I make will be a little beefier. It felt as though I hit a patch of oil. But fortunately, the car had pretty much completed the turn and was going in a straight line at the moment of failure -- so I didn't have to deal with the sudden loss of downforce under a lot of lateral load.
