Cyberster Ground Clearance problem

[tarbat]

Is anyone else having problems with the ground clearance on their Cyberster?

The official ground clearance is listed as 116mm, but on my car this is reduced to less than 70mm by flaps just in front of the front wheels that keep hitting the ground when parking in forest car parks, etc. I'm worried they'll get damaged or even ripped off. Do all Cybersters have these flaps, and any idea what purpose they serve?

 

[Technonotice]

I assume it's just there to improve your drag coefficient by about 0.00006. Maybe deflect a bit of road mess away too - I doubt it would cause much of an issue if they 'fell off'

 

[Vader]

They are called spats, and have 3 main functions.

1) Aero efficiency
2) Brake cooling
3) "downforce" at high speed.

The first is to interrupt the flow that would otherwise hit a large, flat object (tyre). It surprisingly contributes a significant amount to the Cd (not 0.00006 )

The second can redirect air to the brakes, cooling them at speed. Probably the least useful for cars driven on normal public roads at legal speeds

The third is not obvious at first. Interrupting the air flow stops lift being generated at high speed, which in turn lifts the front wheels (ok, decreases the pressure they exert). This stops the fronts losing grip at speed. Again, probably not something you are likely to notice on public roads, but any amount is good in my books.

I would never deliberately remove them, and scraping them is better than scraping the bottom of the car. Use them as a "sounding board" for bottoming out