Broken wheels

It looks like everybody is fixating on breaking Rota wheels, but this happens all the time with expensive original wheels as well. Thats why we have decided to show you other broken wheels this time.

Short: Why are some fog lights yellow?

Yellow fog lights have nothing to do with the yellow headlights mentioned in the article before. Most fog lights are yellow simply because the yellow lights have a higher penetration degree trough the fog so you will see more. However, dont think you that yellow is better in that case for regular headlights as you will see more having regular white light or xenon light when there is no fog.

Short: Why do certain race cars have yellow headlights

In some forms of GT racing in the US, multiple classes run together in the same race. The yellow headlights allow drivers to see whether a car behind them is in the same class as they are. Because the yellow headlights are usually in the slower class, it's usually a matter of a driver in the slower class seeing WHITE headlights in his mirrors and being able to tell the car behind him is in a faster class. In short, it's a way for drivers to tell whether or not the car in their mirrors is one they're actually racing for position with.

Shorts: why do people make their hoods flat black?

Everybody has seen them, car's with flat black hoods. Nowadays there are a lot of reasons for people to make their hood flat black. You have people that like the look, and people that wanted a carbon hood for looks but couldn't afford it. And  you can't forget the people that see that their friends have it so they want it for themselves as well.
What people don't seem to know is that flat black hoods are from the muscle car era. Originally it wasn't done for the looks though. With the huge bonnets of the muscle cars and their shiny paint jobs you would have a lot of reflection and a worse vision. As this is not good for racing they made the hoods flat black to decrease the amount of reflection. Currently it is not really necessary to have a flat black hood as most bonnets are shaped to not be in the sight of the driver but you still see it done some times with some modern race cars.

Top 10 basic performance mods

We have never thought it would be nessecary, but we have gotten quite a few mails wether we could discuss some basic mods. Mods you can do yourself without much trouble and which have good result. As you see we have listened and we have made a list of 10 mods that are easy to do or should be quitte high on your list of first mods on your car.

Creating over- and understeer

This time we will discuss over- and onderstuur. What is it? How can we create it. Almost everything you want to know about it will be discussed.

Bodykits - good or bad?

This time we will discuss bodykits, We are aware that they are not as popular as they were several years ago. We will not discuss wether they are pretty or not, because that is your own decicion. We are only interested in facts and therefore will only discuss the advantages and disadvantages.

aerodynamics - everything you want to know

People usually put spoilers on cars without realising what it will do. They dont know how it works and use their butt dyno to see results. This time we will discuss how it actually works.

For cutting-edge aerodynamics on production-based cars, look no further than Germany's DTM and Japan's Super GT cars. Both series have rules allowing significant use of aero aids (such as multi-element wings, diffusers, super-low side skirts, air dams, and splitters) while keeping reasonably faithful to the cars' original lines. These components combine to produce prodigious amounts of downforce, helping to keep the car planted through corners at ballistic speeds. They also improve braking performance and acceleration thanks to the added traction.

There is a price for this amount of downforce. Drag. Redirecting the energy of the airflow to hold a car down creates more resistance for the car to push against. But that's OK. Although drag reduces top speed somewhat, the increase in cornering speeds makes for faster lap times, so some drag is acceptable. Many race cars have drag coefficients of over 1.1, while modern production cars hover around 0.35. The big difference is that race cars have enough horsepower to compensate.

The key is to produce just enough downforce to maximize the average speed around the track. Produce too much downforce and the increased drag will slow the car excessively, too little downforce will hurt cornering speeds. It usually takes some experimenting with wing settings and other components to find the sweet spot where performance is optimized.

Keep in mind that the basic shape of a production car generates a lifting force when moving through air. The lift characteristics increase exponentially (to the second power) as speed increases. As a result, traction at high speed is reduced and the car's handling can become vague and unresponsive, especially when cornering. By adding downforce, some or all of this unwanted lift can be reduced.

Several aero components are mounted nearer the front, others are usually located closer to the rear. For example, a wing is usually mounted on the trunk lid; an air dam is attached to the front bumper cover. The effect produced by the component will generally be concentrated near to where it's mounted. Consequently, the rear tires will 'feel' more of the wing's downforce than the front tires. Since a wing is usually mounted behind the rear wheels, there will usually be a decrease in the load acting on the front tires due to the fulcrum effect; downforce from the wing will actually lift the front of the car.

Lightweight part 2

In lightweight part 1 we have already told you wat you can install or remove to make your car lighter. This time we will continue more about the laws involved and what you can do depending on race type.

Reducing weight - part 1

Weight loss is an easy way to increase your acceleration times. However it is not as easy as it seems. This time we will tell you some ways to make your car lighter and we will give you some tips about what to do and what not to.