If my memory serves me correctly most "spoilers" on street cars don't do anything significant at less than 3 figure speeds. In any case the plane of this particular one is likely to be nearly parallel to the direction of the air flowing over the car at that point and so it's unlikely to produce upward, downward or drag forces.
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L\'escargot.
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The funny thing about those oversize spoilers is that not only do they have no effect until high speed as L'escargot says, the extra drag they produce is actually making the car slower.
What I really don't understand (and I used to be a boy racer once) is these spoilers are purely for looks, and yet they are so ugly! Along with some of the hideous alloys and body kits you see around as well.
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Clearly the owner is worried about high speed undeersteer and hoping to promote some of the other thing. . . :o)
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As the name suggests, spoilers 'spoil' the airflow over the car to produce downforce and thus reduce top speed. Top Gear viewers may remember the Stig in the Koenigsegg (sp?) going off the track due to the handling and the company fitting a spoiler which improved the handling but knocked a bit off the top speed.
IIRC, the huge rear spoiler on the Impreza STi increases downforce by some 25% at around 90-100 mph.
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Some of the early Porsche 917s went incredibly fast in a straight line but would then start to weave in a way that terrified drivers not normally thought of as wimpish. They had long tails. The version that brought the model success was the one with the chopped-off tail, indeed apart from the upswept, scorpion-like Kamm spoiler it had no bodywork at all behind the rear wheels (wider than they were high, like cotton reels). All you could see when it was going away from you was gearbox and back suspension.
That one was considered to handle well for a 917. However the model continued to massacre drivers.
Hands up: who wants to have a go in one round the Nurburgring with a nice easy time to beat, say 10 minutes? I reckon I am quite gung-ho with cars, but I don't think I'd dare.
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You need downforce over driven wheels so yes the likes of the Impreza and Escort Cosworth's the "spoiler" will have made a difference. But you see so many FWD cars with rear spoilers - pointless. You still get the drag but no downforce.
You mention the Koenigsegg... don't forget the original Audi TT got fitted with a spoiler after launch due to accidents due to a light back end on the limit (amongst other reasons no doubt). Some Audi drivers will have crashed because it had grip and then nothing but believing 4wd always going to give traction.
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