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Re: corrado
The Corrado rear spoiler deploys at a significantly higher speed on German
cars than US cars. Why? Because on the German cars it is designed to
produce downforce at the rear at and above around 100 k/mh; the speed where
it is needed (due to the lift of the otherwise unmodified body).
At the time of the Corrado's US introduction, you might recall that we were
operating under a 55 mph national speed limit. Guess what? You would never
have been able to legally deploy the spoiler in the US, and if you did, it
would be a visual confirmation to anybody looking that you had been speeding.
The marketing-driven solution was to have it "erect" at the virtually useless
speed of 40 mph on US cars.
So, is it functional? Sure, at a high enough speed. Is it a good design?
It depends on whether you think this kind of "engineering" is better than
designing a clean and lift-free shape in the first place.