Was it a psychedelic episode with his Mohawk and a tube of hardcore hair gel that led to the wild front wing on Chris Rado's time attack Scion tC sports coupe? Is it a throwback design borrowed from the Wright Brothers' famous plane? Whatever prompted the team to set up the car's enormous forward aerodynamic element, it has certainly caused quite a stir throughout all of motorsport.
There is no analytical, wind tunnel data to ponder. The idea came about when the WORLD Racing team brainstormed ways to maximize front downforce on the WORLD Racing Scion tC time attack car.
Ron Mathis, an aerodynamic guru who worked on the successful PacWest Super Touring Car circuit for Dodge, saw what the team was doing, eyeballed the rule book and added input to the discussions. Mathis is now a consultant for WORLD Racing. The wing's mission is downforce, period. Looks do not even make the criteria list.
The wing mounts to the front chassis reinforcement structure at the nose of the car and the hood still closes. The car is not "front halfed" as some have speculated. Team Manager Rob Cardona shed some light on the "Rado Wing" for us.
"We converted the tC to run an X-Trac sequential transmission for 2009. Part of the conversion included a solid motor plate, which we tied to the roll cage and other structures to triangulate the front chassis. The car still uses the factory shock mounts, which precludes it from being front-halfed.
"The wing mounts to the reinforcement structure via heim joints on the top, while the lower mounts connect to the bottom splitter mounts."
Four bolts can be loosened to remove the wing and its angle of attack is fully adjustable. Cardona reports that the team is running 10-15 degrees currently and that the wing can support 250 pounds. Using the wing's surface area and select vehicle performance stats, Mathis has calculated that around 800 lbs of downforce is unleashed on the tC's front-drive tires at 100mph.
The team had zero testing before running the car the first time at Willow Springs Raceway for Round 2 of the Redline: Time Attack! series. In fact, the car was barely up and running as the team converted to Motec engine management the week before the event. So Chris was really driving by the seat of his pants, with no telemetry from the ECU and nothing but a shift light as communication from the car.
At that point, Cardona called the car 75 percent. That said, the Scion bested the FWD track record by five seconds, which is light years in road racing circles, and pummeled a number of RWD and AWD entrants. Cardona says with only two events under their belts, the team has not had enough testing time to figure where the wing is most effective. Current estimates indicate that it's most efficient between 80 and 120 mph but more experience and real testing will allow the WORLD Racing crew to really find the sweet spot.
WORLD Racing finds itself in complete nirvana. Cardona points to the team's decade of drag racing experience and how well it has translated to road racing success. He also pointed to that pioneering spirit of early import drag racers as the cause and effect of the team's willingness to take chances.
There is currently a lull in the time attack schedule, but there are no idle hands at WORLD Racing's Torrance, Calif., shop. The Scion is being fitted with a Gary Kubo-built stroker engine and the program is being converted to methanol. The team expects these mods should raise output by between 200 and 300 horsepower, depending on where in the power curve you look.
The crew is also concocting the feared "Booyah Button," a press-to-pass feature that locks the wastegate, delivering an estimated 45 psi to the engine in short bursts. The X-Trac is being re-geared because Chris has been tickling the rev limiter quite a bit in the first two time attack events. Gearing for 190-plus mph is being custom carved by X-Trac.
For the future, Cardona reports that the much-rumored AWD tC is for real. "Our 1000-plus horsepower engine program in a dedicated all-wheel drive platform should run like gangbusters," says Cardona. "It's trending toward a two-car effort in 2010. SEMA will tell all."
The wing is for real, as well. Yes, Rado can see oncoming apexes. "I can't imagine running the tC without the front wing," says a prideful Rado. "It's beyond a night-and-day difference. The grip this thing has is unreal. Just wait till we figure it all out."
Yikes.