Could a Roof-Sized Air-Brake be a Good Idea?

The idea of using active aerodynamics in automobiles has been around for a long time. The Porsche 959 from 1986 was one of the first to implement it.

Source: Porsche

And even in today’s advancements, and after about 40 years, this concept is implemented in the Zenvo TSR-S, with its balletic rear wing, which continually shifts direction in the curves.

Source: Top Speed

Speeding up through turns is one purpose of active aerodynamics, but it serves a far greater purpose than that. Other modern hypercars, such as the Bugatti Veyron and Chiron, demonstrate how this technology may improve the effectiveness of the car’s overall braking performance.

The rear of the vehicle usually has these airbrakes, usually on the wing. However, one Youtube channel felt that they were still too little to satisfy their passion.

If you’ve seen Garage 54, you’ll see where this is headed right away. If you don’t understand what we’re talking about, we’ll explain it to you.

The Setup

The mechanics get their hands on their faithful Lada, which has been through a lot and has surely seen better days by now. It has a pneumatic door opener, an automated transmission, and a clever suspension based on a gas cylinder.

In this experiment, the rooftop of the Lada 1600 was put into test to see if it could serve as an airbrake. In order to find out, the Garage 54 team took out their circular saws, welding equipment, and some hydraulic bits.

To start with the modifications of this car, they pulled a page out of the hypercar playbook and constructed an air brake, a friction brake for vehicles in which pressurized air pushing on a piston is employed to apply the pressure required for braking.

The Experiment

The finished output is humorous, if not a little sketchy. Even so, the guys completed the construction and did many brake tests on the Lada’s cut-up bodywork.

Channel host Vlad noted that it becomes a little chilly inside when the airbrake is used. Because the roof acts as a scoop, the cold air will be brought inside the cabin.

As far as roof airbrake efficiency goes, it was a partial success. However, the roof might come off at high speeds. On the other hand, Vlad stated that the team hasn’t finished with this experiment yet and would be returning to it in the near future.

Take a look at the video to see the construction and testing process in detail:

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