Yokomo GOKURAKU Wing 4.0 Review

I was keen to try the Yokomo GOKURAKU Wing 4.0. A lot of people have told me that it offers a good amount of extra down force. It has been designed by Yukijiro Umino who also designed the BD7, so it all sounds quite promising.

Aerodynamics do make quite a difference to the way that the car works on the track. We all know the handling impact that changing your shell can make. So it only makes sense that changing the wing will also tailor that shells characteristics.

The wing is reasonably priced and you get the mounting hardware (Nice steel 2mm hex screws) the wing, end plates and some tape to stick the end plates on.

As you can see the wing has two main cut lines, ideally you want to have the least possible drag from the wing, especially in stock classes. However I race at a very small tight track and we do not have a long straight so I cut the wing to The max height and length.

Another way to change the amount of downforce is to mount the wing further forward or back. As you can see there are two guide holes here. I usually cut two holes so I can tune the position of the wing at the track. You can really feel the difference in grip even if you move a wing back a few mm.

With the wing trimmed I stick on the end plates. These help direct the airflow around the edge of the wing. Essentially they control the vortices and limit their associated drag called 'induced drag. They also change the way that the air goes around, over and under the wing giving it better airflow management and making the most of the wings intended effect.

Next up, I just mounted it to the shell. I actually use plastic wing mounts from the TRF501 buggy as they are light and they also give the wings more strength.

At the track.

I was interested to see how the wing would affect the handling of a few shells that I had on hand.

First up was the Mazda GX. I wont lie, I think this shell sucks. It is terrible on carpet, the car is very pointy with this shell. It can be fast but it is inconsistent for me to drive quick. I mounted the wing and gave the TRF a few laps. I noticed instantly that the shell was much better on the track than before, it was not perfect however the rear end was noticeably more calm and whilst I was only fractionally quicker the car was easier to drive.

The next shell was the Blitz GSF. This shell is an easy drive for me and this rear wing actually made the car feel a bit too numb. I moved the wing forward and took the TRF out again. This made the car feel much more alive than before, but at the very tight infield section the rear end was noticeably more planted when I would try to hook the car around, it seemed maybe a little bit too sticky, but it could be just because I was used to the car breaking grip at an earlier point as I attacked the apex.

The last shell I tried it on was the LTC-R V2 I like this shell, and I think it is pretty good on carpet for the tight track that I race on. The Gokuraku wing made a big impact on this shell for me. The rear was much more planted on the tight infield sections and this coupled with the direct but not too pointy front end make the car feel really good. So much so that I will use that at the next race week.

Overall

Many of the shells that are available come with wings, having a few more to swap between is always useful if you want to tweak how your car will handle. The Yokomo Gokuraku wing 4.0 is a cheap and interesting tuning aid.

I have a few other wings that I want to try in the next few weeks, so it will be interesting to see how they compare.