One trend that can’t be beaten down enough is the proliferation of an exaggerated faux-performance modification that actually deters the performance that it so tries to encapsulate. It’s nothing new, just an ever-evolving trend through the different genres of automotive styling that over-compensators are prone to explore. We saw it back in the Pro Street craze decades ago where everyone had to have wheelie bars and rear tires with more rubber than most cars have altogether – including the spare. We all just want to be faster, more powerful and better than the next guy. If we can’t do that, we can at least look like we can, right?
One of the greatest parts about the car is the open form onto which one can approach a build – your car is your canvas and you have access to options like never before in history. A simple internet search can supply you with millions of dollars in inventory that would just bolt right up to your car. What happens when a big budget isn’t available is sometimes interesting, and a lot of times embarrassing. The wings on purpose-built racecars serve only one purpose – to gain a competitive advantage even if only by a fraction of a second. Many times, these features are even effective in a very modest looking design. The concept of moderation seems to be wasted on a car culture where bigger is always better; the slower they go, the more surface area is required for the wing to work effectively, right?
18 Needs It: McLaren F1
The year was 1998 when the McLaren XP5 prototype set the world record for fastest production car at 240.1mph but it becomes apparent, when analyzing data, that we’re still struggling to penetrate the 300mph barrier.
See, we were already going close to 250mph 20 years ago, but have yet to outdo that by a mere 20mph.
Regardless, the substantial achievement by the F1 along with its incredible engineering has earned it accolades such as “…the finest driving machine yet built for the public road,” and “one of the great events in the history of the car.” Obviously, the British Autocar magazine is a fan.
17 Needs It: Ford Mustang Shelby GT350R
This is less about the Shelby GT350R and more about the Shelby GT series in general as there’s just too much to get excited about with the Ford/Shelby line to narrow it down to one. Although the GT350R is rated at 536hp and tops out at 155mph, the 4.3-second 0-60mph times from the 5.2L V-8 are slightly paled by rumors and speculation of a GT500 version with north of 700hp. 700hp Mustangs already exist but a 700hp, factory-tuned Mustang gives the car the right to mount a 747 wing on its trunk if it wants to. Keeping with the trend of classy speed, the Mustang is actually just equipped with a mild wing that balances out the profile, if not much else.
16 Needs It: Cadillac CTS-V
Every reputable manufacturer knows that you’re nothing without a little flair and façade – after all, consumers need a premium-level trim from which to get excited about to prompt us to buy their base-model variants.
The CTS-V was just that: a flagship for the CTS line based around performance and prowess on the track to inspire performance-minded folks far and wide.
Inspire it did, and the CTS-V brought performance and luxury to consumers at less than the Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-comparable models could. It’s a very popular track car and the Corvette driveline makes for an easy transition from enthusiastic street driving to competition racing.
15 Needs It: Trans Am Challenger SRT
Ever since the retro-wars started with the Ford Mustang back in ’05 (and arguably by the questionable Plymouth Prowler a few years prior) Dodge has been none for disappointment with their renditions of throwback production. The Challenger was redemption for converting the Charger to a four-door thus eliminating it for serious track consideration by almost everyone. If that wasn’t enough, they have Hellcat and Demon variants that do wheel stands from the factory and claim the title of most powerful production car ever in history. It’s a platform like that that Trans Am race teams can get behind, and this Challenger looks positioned to show us how to use a wing.
14 Needs It: Koenigsegg Agera RS
It’s hands-down one of the most deserving vehicle lineups that need downforce-producing aerodynamics. Despite the longstanding tuner trend of installing huge wings on cars that aren’t even fast enough to alert a radar – the Agera equips a very discreet one. It’s faster than a Formula 1 car and literally designed to shoot across the face of the Earth with 1,300hp – and if you direct your attention to the rear you’ll find a wing you almost need a concealed carry permit for. Wouldn’t it make sense to have a wing tall enough for a tree house? Not to the Agera, it doesn’t.
13 Needs It: Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport
Making its debut almost two decades ago, the Veyron has forever changed the supercar climate with performance standards that redefined what a supercar even was. In fact, you could even call this a hypercar.
Ask a music junkie and he’ll tell you there are over 20 genres of metal – but metal is metal. Similarly, a supercar is a supercar.
The Veyron is a super-duper-car still to this day and it’s got 257mph to prove it. Despite the styling, it’s a car that demands respect whether you're inclined to give it or not – and it’s even modest enough to tuck the wing away when not in use.
12 Needs It: Ford GT
The Ford GT is a reincarnation of the legendary GT40 racecar and somehow manages to live up to the monumental legacy with a new way to look at an old racecar. Many who attempt to bring a model back from beyond fail either slightly or miserably. The Dodge Charger, for example, is great but had two-too many doors while their Dart was just a catastrophe that should have been called the Needle. The GT however, looks ridiculously mean in a state of rest and seeing it in action will change you for life. The Ganassi Racing GT finished the 24-Hours of Le Mans in the LMGTE Pro class in 1st place 50 years after Ford’s GT-40 took the Le Mans win in 1966.
11 Needs It: SSC Ultimate Aero TT
Certified and sealed Guinness records are about as prestigious as they come – you may have all the talking points in the world but ultimately, you either have a record with a sanctioned division of record-qualifying authenticators in a universally-recognized body or you don’t. What they say pretty much goes, so when the plaque was awarded to SSC for the title of fastest production car in 2007, it’s going down in history for all eternity. Possibly just as cool as the 256.14mph speed record is the lack of driving aids like traction control and ABS – the Aero is a true driver’s car-focused solely on the experience.
10 Needs It: Rocket Bunny Civic
Here’s a Civic that’s almost acceptable and I’ll tell you why: tasteful and proportionate modifications in a well-rounded approach to a display of performance can be done legitimately if you’re careful.
The stinking wing is still way too gosh darn large, but at least a focused effort was made to round out the edges.
Like, oh…say…sponsor stickers and actual racing equipment. This is when you can pull off a wing (just not so big though). Rocket Bunny has some cool stuff and attempts to sideline the excessiveness of wings with all-encompassing packages that doctor more than just the bolt-on need for the trunk.
9 No Need: Dodge Hellcat
The funny thing about horsepower-laden, factory cars with more power than they know what do to with is, despite their increased speed and acceleration, few road models are quick to utilize huge wings.
Rather, small lips at the end of the trunk seem more standard with the occasional low-profile wing here and there.
Most of the time it’s the fools who buy them that don’t have the money nor the technical aptitude to actually make them fast – those are the ones responsible for this trend of slow, winged beasts. A supercharged, 707hp 6.2L engine ensures that Challenger has the speed with or without a wing.
8 No Need: Camaro ZL1
The ZL1 Camaro first saw the light of day way back in 1969 as a special-order racecar with a big block 427cid – an aluminum one, no less. The new, track-ready ZL1 packs a heavy-hitting arsenal of ammo with a supercharged, 6.2L V-8 rated at 650hp that can be had with a 10-speed automatic paddle-shift version or the ever-faithful six-speed manual. A 3.5-second 0-60mph and 11-second quarter-mile time necessitate the six-piston Brembos up front and the car is designed for hard track racing even without modifications. Of course, whoever bought a racecar fresh off the lot and didn’t want to start playing with it? Pretty sure your first mods won’t include the wing though.
7 No Need: Honda Civic
This tuner legend is arguably one of the most popular street cars out there. It’s not the fastest, it’s not the best looking nor is it even the cheapest. It’s actually somewhere in between all of those things and runs the risk of being lost in the obscurity of an endless ocean of import rockets. However, the one thing the Civic does have is engineering – its lightweight, compact design and intrinsic performance potential make a great platform to do so much with. The problem is the people who think a wing adds horsepower but should we really blame the gun?
6 No Need: Skyline R33
The Skyline is part of the problem by way of imitation – that’s what I think bugs me about it: the perception-based conversations amongst 19-year old rice-brained adolescents who can throw around Japanese lingo all day long and recite published performance specs with religious devotion but don’t know what a positive g-force even feels like. In all honesty, the Skyline has a following for good reason and we can’t let the kids ruin it with their groupie dreams of cars they drive in Forza 4. So, next time you see a Skyline R-33 floating around the roadways, respect the factory 5.3-second 0-60mph capability, they’re actually great little cars.
5 No Need: R32 GT
See? Now, this is what you should be mad at – somebody one day looked at this car and thought to themselves that it needed a wing tall enough hang Christmas lights from. That same someone apparently also lacked the mental filter that would normally flag that as a bad idea.
This fad has actually blown up to epic proportions and just when you think wings have lost the wind in their sails, something like this drives by you.
Pro Tip #287: If you’re in third gear by the time you make it through the intersection from a red light, you don’t get to have a wing.
4 No Need: Liberty Walk GTR
Here we have the whole enchilada – or would it be a California roll? Either way, Liberty Walk is known in its circles for custom kits for all your tuning aesthetics when you need every corner of your rice to burn hot – full kits outfit not only your tail but the skirts and flairs with diffusers and splitters to tap on just about every corner of your NISMO. Everybody’s got a NISMO when Liberty’s done with them. Regardless of how fast this GT-R actually is, it looks like something that should be trailered to GTLM events with vinyl sponsor stickers caked all over it.
3 No Need: Rising Sun GT-R
It just keeps getting better too – the perception of horsepower has to rise by a factor of about 5 for every actual horse added – it’s just a rule of thumb. So, when you put a cold air intake on and get 3hp, you actually get 15; when that new exhaust gives you 20 ponies you now have to visually update the car to reflect something 100hp more. By this logic, you can have a wing as tall as the street lights with a new motor. If we were a third-world country we could just mount bucket seats up there on the wings and use our cousins for ballast. That would at least work better.
2 No Need: MX-Misery
No shoes, no shirt, no service. No bumper? No problem. Just throw a wing on it, bro. No longer are trunk-mount kits enough – now we’ve evolved to bumper bracket-mounted supports that are strong enough to climb on.
When somebody realizes the built-in utility to this, it’s only a matter of time before we start to see wings with cargo nets and tie-down hooks.
The importance of the rest of the build seems to fall by the wayside because, eventually – the wing is all that matters. If you look at it long enough you almost forget that the bumper is even missing.
1 No Need: Wheelie-Wing BRZ
The AOA (or Angle of Attack) is the angle at which an airfoil intercepts oncoming air in relation to the wing's chord line (the chord line simply being an imaginary reference drawn from the leading edge to the trailing edge of an airfoil). We could talk for days about fluid dynamic theory and what would work best where and the why of it all, but this BRZ (or Scion for you Toyota fans) is unnecessarily exaggerated to the point where even other ricers can’t stand to look at it. Despite a factory 6.1-second 0-60mph time being halfway respectable, it in no way facilitates the need for anything like this.
Sources: Bugatti.com, koenigsegg.com, sscnorthamerica.com, thedrive.com, caranddriver.com, rssportscars.com, rbmotoring.com.