At what speed is aero a good idea?, New bumper for #209 Options

[Jetsetsurfshop]

Hey Paddock People,
My car sustained some pretty good front end damaged and the 916 front bumper is destroyed. Thinking this is a good time to change things up. Good news is that already bought the bumper half with the oil cooler cut out. Now I need the bottom half to finish it off.
The thought is should I run a splitter type valance? What is the speed where these cars want downforce? My car's top speed at Sebring is 115mph. I see a lot of HSR 914-6's that don't have a splitter and I know there are faster then I am.
Another thought is that I'm not the only driver of the car and when we have an off track experience, will the splitter still be there??
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/beer.gif)

[Jetsetsurfshop]

I took a day off from checking this post and you all took it over!
The tipping point was what I was after. I don't feel my car needs a splitter/wing combo yet. Was looking for what you all thought was the speed when a 914 gets squirrelly.
I think I'll just do the valance like Brant's. Chumpcars do have an occasional off here and there. An air damn splitter combo sounds like a problem waiting to happen.
As far as Brant's off topic post. I never thought my brakes were too cool. Never experienced brake fade in my car after I went 5 lug. I was running Hawk DTC-70s and we never got the rotors hot enough for those. Now I have Porterfields endurance pads because we didn't want to swap pads during a race. Not sure if those are in the optimum temps, but I think I like these more. Stopping didn't fill drastically different form one to the other and there kinder to the rotors.
Thanks for the help.
Anyone have a suggestion on how to buy the valance from?

[brant]

I took a day off from checking this post and you all took it over!
The tipping point was what I was after. I don't feel my car needs a splitter/wing combo yet. Was looking for what you all thought was the speed when a 914 gets squirrelly.
I think I'll just do the valance like Brant's. Chumpcars do have an occasional off here and there. An air damn splitter combo sounds like a problem waiting to happen.
As far as Brant's off topic post. I never thought my brakes were too cool. Never experienced brake fade in my car after I went 5 lug. I was running Hawk DTC-70s and we never got the rotors hot enough for those. Now I have Porterfields endurance pads because we didn't want to swap pads during a race. Not sure if those are in the optimum temps, but I think I like these more. Stopping didn't fill drastically different form one to the other and there kinder to the rotors.
Thanks for the help.
Anyone have a suggestion on how to buy the valance from?

Shane,
Regarding the valance
they have probably gotten more pricey than they used to be (like all of these parts)

back when I was building the vintage car in 03-04, it wasn't cost effective to go fiberglass given that the weight savings was minimal. I used a formula at the time to calculate how many pounds would be saved at what cost. The fiberglass valance isn't a ton lighter. I don't remember any more how much... but it was only a few pounds at the time and didn't past my $/lb formula

of course it might be more cost effective now
the valances are still not expensive but if you have to ship one that will add a bit
I think the usual sources, GT, etc all have the Fiberglass ones

every now and then I will have an off or ding my metal one and appreciate that I can pull it out (often without removing it from the car) and don't have to do any fiberglass work on it when that happens.