What effects will different air densities have on cars with those big aluminum wings? Basically I’m talking about the street racers that look like shopping carts with fart cans attached to them?
I assume you’re referring to spoilers, now seen on a good many cars whose owners wish to seem “with it”.
The technical answer is that the lift an airfoil generates is proportional to air density times the square of velocity. So at a lower air density, the winged vehicle must travel faster to get the same effect.
But in the real world, those spoilers are pretty much just for show. You’ll probably impress (or not) the same people on a hot day in Telluride as you would on a cool one in Boston.
What Xema said. Indy cars and the like use them to create a downward force to help keep the car on the track, but at relatively low speeds (i.e. anything under 100+ MPH), all they’ll do is increase your drag and lower your fuel economy.