Austarion

i was wondering how hard it would be, using some thing like glass reinforced plastic (i have seem it done with the same stuff that real estate signs are made of, with glass fibre either side), to make a flat under body for a starion. with a decent front splitter on an airdam, running the length of the car, and ending up meeting up with the bumper. that plastic stuff is easy to work with, just cut it up and tape it together however you want it, then glass over the top. its incredibly stiff, so it would only need to be mounted around the side.

and the payoff should be lower drag (from being flat and the splitter) and downforce from the diffuser at the back and the splitter too.

have been reading "race car aerodynamics" thats what gave me the idea.

it's a fantastic idea if done properly. With starions, there are a number of issues.

Firstly, since the exhaust is normally lower than the rest of the underbody, this would pose somewhat of an issue and would need to be considered when designing the undertray. Further to that, if you include the exhaust in the cavity above the undertray and block it off completely from the airflow, you will have heat build up from the exhaust. Just another thing to consider when designing/testing/developing.

Secondly, air from the radiator flows through the engine bay and then down and under the car when it reaches the firewall (if not sooner). If you are blocking off this pathway under the car, then you will need to ensure your bonnet has adequate venting to allow that air to escape above the car so the radiator can continue to have fresh air flowing through it. And no, the pissy little JA bonnet side vents will not suffice, even if they have been hacked to pieces. You will need fairly large vents near where the non-functioning scoop normally is.

A completely separate issue is that some racing classes do not allow undertrays unless they were from factory - something to consider if you want to use this to make your car more competitive for a specific race class, so you'll need to ensure that this is allowed.

hmmm.
sounds like a challenge.

i must find a reasonably large plastic model of a starion to test this with...