Today’s invention is a new way to provide a racecar with downforce in corners, but with zero increase in drag on the straights and minimal weight penalty.
The car has to slow, to some extent, on approach to a corner. It would achieve this by shutting down the normal four stroke cycle in a subset of cylinders.
Instead of ‘suck, squeeze, bang, blow’, pistons in these non-firing cylinders would periodically create intense low pressure regions when the valves are closed as the engine continues to rev.
The intake ports would then be connected via a valve/filter to the underside of the vehicle, sharply reducing pressure there, so that it is sucked down onto the road surface.
As the corner is exited, the normal four stroke process re-engages in all cylinders.