Open wheel competition car rear wing placement and underbody aerodynamic interactions: Aerodynamic design for a competitive advantage in motorsports

Modern, open-wheeled racing cars rely heavily on downforce generated by underbody Venturi tunnels to gain a competitive advantage. While these tunnels are critical to aerodynamic efficiency, their interaction with other components - particularly the rear wing - remains an area worth exploring. This study uses computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to investigate how changing the rear wing’s angle of attack (AoA), defined as the angle between the wing’s chord line and the oncoming airflow, vertical and longitudinal position influences the aerodynamic performance of the underbody and total downforce production. CFD allows for detailed analysis of pressure distribution and flow behaviour, offering insight into how the rear wing affects the efficiency of the Venturi tunnels. Results show that it is important to analyse the underbody and rear wing, both as a system and as separate components, because their individual behaviours do not always reflect their combined effect. In addition, the longitudinal position of the rear wing had the largest impact on the underbody’s performance when compared to the AoA and vertical position. Shifting the rear wing’s position from 5.0 to 5.1 m resulted in an increase in the underbody’s − C L from 1.55 to 2.00. These findings can help engineers to understand better the aerodynamic relationship between the rear wing and underbody, aiding the development of higher-performing race cars. In a competitive motorsport environment where small aerodynamic gains can make a big difference, refining these interactions is key to improving handling, lap times, and sporting performance.