Stripes

[syntaxglitch]

Notice to the general public:

If you drive a junky car that's older than me, a pickup truck, an SUV, or a car with less horsepower than a golf cart, then please note that spoilers and/or go-faster stripes are NOT appropriate decorative elements for your vehicle. Thank you and good day.

Comments

[morganite]

Spoilers...

I'm imagining a car with, say, "Luke's father is Darth Vader" written on the side.

Gee, think I'm not a car person? ^-^

[nanassi]

*groans*
Good pun. ^_^

[morganite]

I can't entirely take credit (or blame) for it, since I saw someone else doing things with multiple definitions of the word "spoiler" before.

I don't think they were applying it to cars though.

And I really don't know what it means when it's part of a car. ^_^;;;

[syntaxglitch]

The same thing it means in aeronautics--a device to reduce or counteract lift. Typically on a vehicle this takes the form of an inverted aerofoil positioned on top of the vehicle to increase downward pressure on the body of the vehicle (i.e., produce negative lift), particularly on the rear sections. This has practical application in racing vehicles, as the increased pressure reduces the tendency to slip and skid when cornering at high speeds.

Most spoilers added to passenger vehicles are done because they look "cool", not because the vehicle lacks for downward pressure or needs to counteract a lifting aerofoil effect experienced by the vehicle's body.