Originally Posted by Airscape
Very interesting post but now I have to ask about diffusers. I was under the impression that they helped with top speed by reducing drag but after reading all this I think I was wrong. Can somebody clarify for me? Now it seems that they would just reduce lift and actually cause more downforce, reducing top speed/increasing handling at high speed. In addition my brain might just be fried from reading this whole thing and consuming too much crown last night lol. Thanks for any info you can provide.
I'm neither an aerodynamicist nor an engineer, but I believe that diffusors and other underbody elements create downforce without the increased drag created by a wing. A high drag wing can create a ton of downforce but also dramatically reduce top speed simply because of the drag created. Diffusors can provide a lot of downforce without the sacrifice in top speed (or not as much of a sacrifice).
I think.