How We Designed the Car to DRIVE UPSIDE DOWN
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- čas přidán 21. 10. 2023
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I’m going to drive a FORMULA car upside down in a tunnel. BUT, as I said in the last video, we know an F1 car isn’t right for Project Inversion.
This is the story of how we found the perfect car to drive upside down, how we made it produce more downforce than an F1 car and how we overcame a multitude of design problems, many of which you might not have thought about.
But first, a bit more on why F1 cars aren’t right for this crazy stunt, and how much downforce, relative to the car’s mass, do we actually need to create?
📹 All source footage can be found here 👉 bit.ly/3QsgpxP
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#F1UpsideDown #ProjectInversion #F1 - Auta a dopravní prostředky
"When a tire isnt in contact with the road, This is suboptimal"
Thats certainly a way of putting it.
I heard Ron Dennis repeating it afterwards in my head.
Suboptimal, a.k.a. non-preferred.
Both well worn engineering terms.
that's how you know an engineer is talking haha!
The phrase that's been stuck in my noodle was Bobby Unser's "Well, that's just a little hair growin' on the tires." (Sorry, old and don't remember where or when he said it. Thinking Indy or Michigan.)
so I suppose when your tire is no longer attached to your wheel, that is nonoptimal...?
If you want to drive upside down, why don't you go to Australia?
Or find one of those old top gear cars. 😂
Did you mean Austria?
As an Aussie, I can confirm, this will work 🤌🏽
@@brodiemiller2296 what really annoyed me was when they worked out gravity is bending space time and not a force, i had to send my springy hat back.
Because a kangaroo might punch Scott out of the cockpit, those bastards are tough and you dont wanna be punched out of your car while going upside down at 80 mph
I think this is one of the few times that going slower will *look* cooler - sticking to the top of a tunnel at 80mph will look even crazier than doing so at twice that speed, at least that's my guess.
Yeah now I kinda want someone to drive underneath him and match his speed
The problem with that is that then IF he should crash, it's even more dangerous.
Especially if you get a normal commuter car to drive on the ground under it to point out that it’s doing this at highway speeds
If the ground car is bigger and has some sort of landing pad with heavy feathers below, it could increase safety by providing a little softer landing (probably still brutal, but it might help reduce the stress on critical components) and by preventing the unintentional abuse of the upsidedown brakeing system
@@knigo79676:41
As a FSAE driver, it feels super honourable that formula student got mentioned as not many people really know this category exist. Thank you driver 61. Good luck on the project and hope it works out as planned and safely
Same here!! Super cool to hear, i was thinking about it since the first video.
i read a book about formula student before. sounds amazing
Not many know the category exists because it’s an american series with no-fun rules that prohibit real racing. Plus it likely doesn’t take you very far since those destined for F1 are probably already in f4/Indy lites
@@dylanzrim3635 "american series"
Do you even know what formula student is about?
Its an engineer's series
But it also takes a good driver to drive on those conditions
@@dylanzrim3635 its more like a international student/university series. at least here in europe many tech universities have race teams in formula student. as far as im concerned they also hold the world record for fastest 0-60mph acceleration. AMZ Racing from the ETH Zurich tech university built a car that does 0-60mph in 0.956 seconds.
This Project has got to be one of the coolest things to ever be posted on CZcams! Thank you so much for this amazing content! 🤩
And probably one of the most expensive
there is a tesla orbiting between earth and mars. just sayin.
How I wish they'd be backed by RedBull. I mean the idea itself is so RedBull coded.
@@user-hw4st7br9a I'd imagine Scott would have to be a RB athlete then? Considering his connection with Renault/Alpine, I'm not sure it would be easily done.
@@HarryNicNicholasit was expensive, but it wasn't on yt (that I know of) and they just used it to test things on their rocket. And that's a big company, not a CZcamsr (I know their is more then that but whatever, you get my point.).
I cannot wait to see your experiment be all over all the news the near future.
Just imagine the excitement this brings to all young boys, now wanting to pursue engineering
"all over all the news" for the right reasons i hope.
*and girls
@@dielaughing73 20%
@@dielaughing73 There's a reason why women live longer
@@slartibartfast2649 But if girls see it as a "boys" thing, they are far less likely to get involved in motorsport
You're dead serious about doing this and I'm all for it. Somebody's needed to this for ages now. You've definitely got some of the best helping with this. Imagine if Red Bull sponsored it.
Imagine Newey and Toet working together
This is the kind of stuff that gets me excited as an engineer. All motorsports fans of high downforce series' have heard the "this could drive in a tunnel upside down" phrase, but its an entirely different story alltogether to figure out how to actually accomplish that, and do it safely.
You guys are making history with this insane project, wish you the best, props for bravery
Stuntmen have been driving cars upside down in tubes and tunnels for a long time.
@@slowanddeliberate6893 for like a second or two
@@slowanddeliberate6893Loops doesn't count
@@slowanddeliberate6893 For how long? a loop aint counting buddy
@slowanddeliberate6893 This is why Callum should take the first run at this. Work the kinks out for Scott.
this is actually one of the most impressive and exciting projects I've seen
I still think that starting with the car inverted is the most realistic approach (though could be considered a bit cheeky). Install the car on the ceiling on a track and essentially keep it tethered until it gains enough velocity to generate the required downforce, then have the track end and allow the driver to do their thing. Heck for safety you could always keep a loose tether attached so that if a mechanical or electrical failure occurs it’ll keep the car and driver from certain catastrophe.
A SUPER crazy option would be to still include ground effect downforce, and make the ENTIRE tunnel/tube the same circumference. So that even on the bottom it's still curved. Then design the car's floor so that it descends to follow that curve perfectly. That would be wild
This actually makes sense to me. Worth simulation at least
This is so exciting, super cool project!
To avoid that danger zone diagonal angle riding up the wall where the front tire can lift up to 10cm, why do you not use four wheel steering, but the rear wheels are reversed? That would keep the car straight and parallel to the tunnel to keep the optimal downforce and grip.
Second thought, why isn't the belly of the car also rounded of to keep it closer to the wall of the tunnel? sure it would beach it self on any normal flat road, but you are already building a custom vehicle with it's only purpose to drive in a tunnel, so why not also modify the whole under side and diffuser of the car to fit the shape of the tunnel?
Well he's going to be starting on flat ground to get up to speed, so that wouldn't work. Also it would require much more extensive & complicated modifications to the car.
@@flexinclouds why does the ground he start on have to be flat? That's a relatively cheap part of the tunnel and would make the surface consistent throughout. There's really no reason not to make it as curved as the rest of the tunnel.
The car is already custom enough to not be any normal or regulated car, but money and complexity sure plays a part in the design, just feels like something all these engineers would have thought of and would be interesting to hear why not.
Cant wait to see this happen. A F1 car theoretically driving upside down is something I have heard and told folks & my children about since I was a kid (I am 49) . Best of luck for you and the team in the project!
I wouldn't worry as much about the downforce as the turn it self. From watching bmx:ers and dirt bike riders go thru loops; alot fail entering / exiting.. I bet that's the hardest part of it
Dude I’m not sure how much you’ve done but this project needs way more promotion.
I’d be expecting 1M live viewers for something like this
Hello guys!! Great to see you improve. Just an engineer with a suggestion. Why don't you place a slight curve in the tunnel to use centrifugal force and stick the car to the wall when you are turning upside down? This way you could minimize the risk of "peeling" out the wall
Well, have you heard about cost ?
I'm imagining a curve to the left as you drive counter-clockwise to go upside down. Would this curve only help you reach the half-way point where you are perpendicular to the ground though? You'd have to curve it 'down' for the centrifugal force to act in the direction of transitioning from perpendicular to upside down.
Thoughts from an engineering student :)
Seems feasible, and some racing tracks already have a good slope on curves, mainly oval circuits. It might even be a start point for the construction. (Thoughts from an IT student, so dont bet your lives on it)
interesting point. Intuitively it seems like doing this could also help stabilize the construction as a whole. At least in the actual curved section. I'm assuming the greatest forces will be occurring in this transitional phase of the drive. An issue with this might be cost producing this additional curve in the C shaped elements. I'm not sure if they are planning to use custom made elements or if something suitable already exists, in which case this would probably also help keep costs down.
Another question i have is how the wind will interact with this construction as a whole. With the smooth shape required, it seems like even slow wind in the right direction could compound quite dramatically in different ways along its length. They do mention winds so I assume they have considered this but it is just another element among so many.
Personally I'm not an engineer or anything of the sort, but i am interested in these things and do love running scenarios like these as thought experiments in my head and it will be truly fascinating to see something like this come to life as an actual practical experiment! The way I see it its such a pure example of human curiosity and spirit and I love it!
There are already loops driven by cars. So your idea is working perfectly. I would love to see this live.
The experiment they try to pull up is Downforce against gravity. I hope nobody gets hurt and it will be epic!
Its still unbeliveble how crazy this is, i wish you good luck and cant wait for the sheer madness to unfold!
Love this project and the detail you're sharing about the development process. Keep it up! 🎉
Scott! I really hope you and your team can pull it off! I mean as a life long F1 fan this is the moment we have all been waiting. This has been talked for as long as I can remember. I'm about the same age as you are and I really cheer you on this one!! Big ups for even trying this. This is like the mission impossiple in real life. Cheers from Finland!!
Yeah in that danger zone you'll want to have ample lateral momentum already, to avoid a stall. Better to slightly over-invert and correct it (mark the ideal line well) than to stall and not make it there.
You can tell Scott wrote the episode because it references his Unbeaten Record Lap Time at Brands Hatch!
I’m loving this series and really looking forward to the episode that covers the powertrain 😊
I'm just imagining all the fun upside-down livery options for this car. 🙃 Love the project! Can't wait to see more!
Scott you have some balls of steel.
I'm so Hyped for this.
I think this is such a massive thing in the automotive industry.
Its going to draw loads of attention of really big manufacturers.
this is the best thing you have done on the Channel since your driving school back in the days.
To solve the ride height issue during transition, don’t use a circular tunnel. Build a unique path within the tunnel, that allows for a uniform geometry as you follow it up to the roof.
This was talked about in the last video.
The problem would be actually following that path. If anything goes even slightly wrong and the car drifts off course, it no longer has that optimal geometry under it.
It's safer to optimize the car for a uniformly circular tunnel, that way there's a lot more room for error.
Why not give the cars floor the same radius as the track?
I said this in the last video, build a straight-ish road that very gradually corkscrews.
Or (and this is a ridiculous idea, but we are talking about building a bespoke tunnel for the purpose of driving a car upside down here) A completely straight, flat road that can be inverted... Think like the rotating corridor in the movie Inception. A big rotating drum with a bridge running through the middle of it that can be flipped over.
Edit: Actually, there's a much easier way: A loop. A long stretch of road, a half-pipe ramp, and an inverted stretch of road directly above the run-up stretch, with an exit ramp that connects back to the run-up section... No corkscrewing motion, just ride it straight up like a rollercoaster.
@@normang3668where I've seen such loop the loops the front end needs to be so high for clearance it might not generate requisite downforce (active lift and drop mechanism might add too much weight to work around it) was my guess
Like always a nice video. Love this channel and thank you for all the videos, amazing work and immense explaning. Thank you!
How is this not getting more attention? There’s so much to this. There’s loads of interesting points, there’s a sense of danger, there’s science, aerodynamics, and it’s just really interesting to see how they have to modify a car in such a way that it literally drives upside down
This is amazing. I just hope we'll a get a video on "How we will ensure safety driving upside-down" soon. Stay safe
I'm concerned about the steering issues you'll encounter when trying to fit the camber to the tunnel's radius. Turning slightly may cause instant and uncontrollable oversteer wouldn't it? it would be like having one front wheel suddenly have a toe-in and the other a toe-out setup. I'm an idiot but I'm just wondering what kind of steering issues you'll encounter. I'm sure a scale model will allow you to test it out somewhat.
Isn’t that more a toe issue than a camber issue? Excess camber behaves similarly to insufficient camber?
Fascinating! I could listen to this conversation for hours.
Limit the dangerous transition to just the end of the run. Hang the car in upside down mode from start using a t hook on bearing on an anchored track. At optimal speed, disengage t hook and drive on ceiling for a bit. Then , on exit in order to compensate for "peeling" , use centripedal force to transition the end of track which can have a inward curve in 2 directions (east west and north south simultaneously) a smoother, safer transition for the final xyz axis segment.
@flimluvr - like the idea. We discussed that too, but we discounted it because - if we did that how would people watching be fully confident that we'd done the event for real (i.e. that there was no support rail any more). Would make the whole thing MUCH easier though. 🙂
You have a brilliant man working with you, I wonder how many F1 drivers would love to have a go at driving this once you have proven it works.
I am not a professional driver but I would love to have a go, what happens at 88mph do you have a flux capacitor fitted.
As Doc Brown would say, you're not thinking 4th-dimensionally. Guaranteed there will be no half-pipe at his destination time.
It is not the fact a car can drive upside down, it is the exact uncertain moment of transition that is the unknown...
I'm rooting for you guys so hard to make this happen. This would be history. I'd love to have the opportunity to see the experiment live.
Love this series. Keep up the great work
I can't wait to see how this goes, did you consider starting upside down on rails ? then you just need to worry about getting the car upright after the challenge is complete.
i was thinking this too, or maybe a clever receiving rail at the other end too so the car can just stay upside down the entire time. And no need to build a special tunnel
Would be very difficult as you couldn’t use the existing engine/driveshaft as the wheels would be spinning the other way
But isn't there an Australien GP for years?
What are you talking about.???
There's an F1 race every year in Melbourne. It's usually (not always, especially recently) the first race of the season.
@@dazofthemoo1531 drive upside down...
@@RixxleSnoops yeah, I know.
@@dazofthemoo1531 I'll translate it for you: "But haven't cars already driven upside down for years at the Australian GP?"
@@gamechip06 Gotcha.!! Not the first time I've been the idiot in the room, thinking I was the genius.
☺🙃
very interesting project. long time subscriber but this is next level. many props to you.
this is incredible and mad all at the same time. love it
How are you starting, is it on a normal road then you transition into the tunnel?
I know the sponsors will love this idea 😁
Would it be better if you made a runway the same curve as tunnel and make the underneath of the car fit the curve better.
Also at first I kept thinking about the air density if your running the car in the tunnel a few times how much hotter and less dense is the air at the top but that's probably negligible to the amount of force the car will be producing.
but also how do you choose the tyres? If there are cold spots on the tunnel surface and some hot spots, more likely on the top, does the hardness of the tyre come into it?
So, the project designed to answer the question 'can a f1 car drive upside down?' Has already been answered without even trying
Yeah but driving a car upside down is still cool though
Also they crash a lot of F1 cars driving the normal way 😂
It was answered long before the project started, but why wouldn't you want to be the first?
Aerodynamically it was answered a long time ago. There are other aspects that are challenging (such as an ICE engine running upside down). And it's not about answering the hypothetical question. It's about actually doing it.
In theory it has been
In theory and in practice should be the same
But in practice it rarely is
Can't wait to see this all come together and a successful (and safe) outcome!
Never been more stoked for anything on youtube. Let's goo!!!!
Will you be doing simulations to get a feel of how your body will be moving around in the cockpit?
Keeping your feet on the pedals while hanging sideways/upside down would require some adjustments or preparation/training at least, right?
@staomruel We will be building a simulator the replicate the tub with driver and the front part of the car so Scott can experience the changing G-force and so that he does not feel disoriented when he does the actual event.
@@willemtoet_yt excellent, I've been telling everyone I know that's slightly interested in this stuff about this project, I'm looking forward to every next step you make.
Good luck going forward! And upside down!
Scott. Just wanted to say that you're bonkers, but i think you'll do it.
But i think that it would be a great idea to talk to Guy Martin as part of your training. As we know he generally likes things upright but when he was training for the wall of death record he had to change how his mind works. Also he's very good at crashing. 😀👍
love your vids keep up the good work👍👍
This is going to be amazing! I was wondering if you could change the wing's position or even curvature while being upside down to generate lift (or low downforce area) like an airplane does.
All the best and I can't wait to see it!
My stress level is increasing with every episode!
❤ from 🇨🇦 eh! :)
Right? The more they explain it the more scary it gets
In the event the car did peel way from the roof of the tunnel. When it landed / hit the floor is there any chance the cars roll hoop or halo could penetrate the tunnels structure (punch a hole)?
Been watching for a year, I knew you were a driver but not a brands hatch record setting driver. Well done.
So cool, could you use centrifugal force to stick the car at the slipping point as you transition by making the turn in a 90-180 degree tilted corner?
The curved tunnel seams to be adding many complexities to a fairly simple idea. Would it not make sense to investigate the idea of a straight section of road surface that could rotate through 180 degrees. This could be fairly low in overall height (enough to accommodate the vehicle height and also some additional safety features, like free running wheels in the event of loss of downforce)...?
It would need to be a really long section you’re trying to rotate. The car is moving at about 80mph and it’s going to take at least a few seconds to rotate something that large. You’d be looking at probably rotating a mile long section of track.
Batman's been driving the Batmobile upside down for decades.
Love these big projects Scott
In my head when I first heard the concept of driving upside down I pictured going forward into a huge half circle like you were going to do a loop and just ending up on a flat ceiling. Not sure if that would be more or less difficult.
In brazil we have a couple of sayings for what you guys are doing and the level of confidence you have achieved:
1) you have trust in your bat
2) putting the salami down on the table!
To think that the decades old idiom of “a formula 1 car can drive upside down in a tunnel” is finally going to be put to the test, and well within my lifetime, is something truly exciting for me to get to see and I can’t wait for when the real event happens!
The biggest problem will be getting the suspension to handle the opposite corners ride height problem when angling on a tunnel, while also handling a massive load difference.
Semi-trucks will pump up the axles to compensate for load. Soft suspension can compensate for ride height. Active suspension can do both, but would be expensive and take a lot of calibration.
Halo and roll hoop is very important for safety 🤞🏻 really looking forward to this project 🤩
I can't help but wonder why it has to run aerodynamically on a flat surface. That seems pointless when the main challenge here is running on a curved surface of a known diameter.
Now yes, curving the car to the tunnel has its own challenges associated to running on level ground, since the underside of the car could end up bellow the wheels. But one could overcomplicate the car and have its ride height be adjustable. Or make a curved approach ramp.
Also, will quickly add in that allowing the rear wheels to also turn in the same direction as the front wheels will make the car strafe up the side of the tunnel instead of turning up the side of the tunnel. Effectively eliminating all the issues discussed at 9:10 Though creating a new issue in that the car has to be aligned on axis with the tunnel, so logically the back wheels shouldn't perfectly match the angle of the front ones, having them do slightly less turning will still allow the car to turn, but its turning radius will be massive. Experimentation will determine how much strafe/turning is ideal.
Adjustable ride height isn't too complicated, but another point of failure. (Even if a compressed air system would be somewhat simple to implement, and I would be surprised it isn't suitably reliable. The system is "fail safe" in that if the lift cylinder doesn't decompress, then one won't attempt the inversion since the ride height is too high for proper aerodynamics. And if one can't reapply pressure after the inversion is done, then one will simply skid when going back out onto level ground.)
But a curved approach/break segment before and after the tunnel is likewise trivial, especially at these somewhat low speeds since a long distance won't be required. And these segments are likely going to be quite cheap. (I suspect it to be more expensive than a piece of plywood and some 2x4's.)
In the end.
You want to drive a car inverted on a ceiling, you have to think outside the box. Your road is a more or less perfectly straight tube. You don't need to turn and you don't need a car able to run on a flat road.
it isn't simulated on a flat surface but the rest of your point are very good!
@@RixxleSnoops I never stated stated that they simulate on a flat surface, just that it hasn't yet moved away from the needless "requirement" of running on a flat surface.
However, I could have expressed myself more clearly on that point.
I was thinking run a relatively high ride height and relatively soft springs, most double A arm suspensions gain camber in compression so as the topside downforce (on the flat) compresses the springs the ride height and camber approach ideal for the curved tunnel section.
@@arrindaley3714 Yes, but then you have the issue of needing even more downforce to not "spring" away from the ceiling. Ie, more speed and therefore a longer more expensive tunnel.
@@todayonthebench set the springs up that soft that they're compressed at / before the tunnel and already using a stiffer 2nd stage.
You should try and get Mark Rober involved with this, whatever financial risk you're taking would disappear.
I don't think that's how the world of financing works
Not sure if that's how Mark Rober works
Why do you say that?
Getting him involved could be a great idea indeed.
A collaboration with other big CZcamsrs actually seems like a good idea - easier sponsoring, potential gain of long-term viewers
I don’t often like and comment on a video but so pumped for this project and everyone needs to see it!
Hey guys first of all mad respect and support to your project.I just had a brainstorm about the engine that what if you make the engine in such a way that it stays upright at all times like those hubs on wheel covers that stay upright even when the wheel spins. i know its a long shot and i maybe wrong completely but it was just a random idea.
Why is this unlisted? Is it supposed to be public already?
A big worry in my head is turning the wrong way once you're upside down, i'd be doing this in a sim over and over to get that muscle memory in :P.
It's not going to be backwards, because his frame of reference will also be upside down.
He'll be able to see which direction he needs to drive in the come down and which direction he definitely doesn't need to drive in.
This is just insane, i'm so stoked for this project
looking forward to see the end project. good luck
Safe to say Scott is gonna moving up and down side to side like a roller coaster 😂
Suprised im one of the first five people to see this vider
The most amazing series on YT right now
Thank you bringing up formula student! I am a member of University of Albertas FSAE team and we are looking forward to debuting our new car in this year’s competitions. Formula students making many experimental designs that may be seen in other motor sports in the future. We also are improving previous designs greatly.
A Formula student car has a massive advantage in its narrow track, which has a lot less issue with dealing with curvature. Also, theyre usually already electric which has no issue with driving upside down.
Great series. Keep it up.
This is going to be wild! Can't wait to see it come together
I just keep thinking about the vibrational effects. This is fascinating to think of because every perspective you look at it from, a new question arises.
You are not the YTer I watch the most simply because your content is few and far between but it's always 150% quality and one of the few chans were I can honestly say I'd donate!
Keep it real dude I hope you and your team never become victim to the grips of green and YT
That car looks amazing. Especially the rear end diffuser.
Cant wait to see the end results! When will the project be ready? This is really cool.
As an intermediate testing step, I would consider having a vehicle with some sort of scaffolding drive along beneath the race car, holding it up to the upside down road until both vehicles get up to the optimal speed.
a nice big mattress to catch the thing just in case.
This all seems very thought out luckily and it seems like it’s going to work. The only thing I’d be concerned by now is the G-force created by the centrifugal forces during turning. In a 7,5 m diameter tunnel those forces could be super high and that seems dangerous… I hope you’ve calculated these forces and determined that they’re not an issue
Crazy....looking forward to see it
You could partially fill the bottom of the tunnel to decrease your max fall height in case of an accident. However, those surfaces can then no longer be driven on (you might want to if something goes wrong).
Best thing ever to happen on CZcams,period ❤️❤️
This is a huge project and I can't wait to see the results 😮
10:02 I love that you've simulated this in BeamNG with the custom track builder. I've actually done the same thing with an F1 car mod and it does work!
You guys are making history i am fully supporting this
I’m so excited to see this happen!
Sooo much more to it than the old adage about F1 cars being able to drive upside down. I can't wait for the next episode.
I’m glad we all get to be here before everyone else, once you guys succeed and it’s all over the news, we’ll be able to say we say it from the first episode in the CZcams channel.
I still have sooo many unanswered questions but I trust guys and i hope, really really hope, you succeed. because this is a historical undertaking
Do you have to transition into being inverted? What if there was a way to have the car start attached to the ceiling, and determine what length of secured inverted rail/track you need to build critical speed. Build in a safety margin and then have that inversion safety track end once sufficient downforce is generated. You would still have to transition out of inverted, but if the track also turned in the transition area (think like a NASCAR oval, but a wider radius) you could also maintain centrifugal force in the transitionary phase to the ground
i really hope there will be a live stream of this attempt when it's ready! please!
I dont often like vids nor share em.
But i know a ton of large folks in the car and motorsports industry, not sure if it will be of any help, but. Why not try to share with em as most of the work is already figured out.
Im happy and excited to see all this get off the ground.
If you curve the first part of the tunnel, you can create a flat surface up the side to the top. Plus, the centripetal (?) force would help hold you on it. If you have to turn the car, turn the road, instead.
I might have missed this, but did you look at the McMurtry Speirling?
It seems to have a combination of features that would help with this plan - fan driven ground effects - that could give you greater than 1g downforce from a standstill, electric powered, so no obvious problems running full power inverted. Its new technology too, so great for publicity for your team and them.
I've been wanting to see this even since I read as a teen that a BMW Le Mans car had more downforce than its weight- I'm so glad to see someone trying this!
Just send it, Scott!!! I can’t wait anymore to see this engineering marvel!!!
A dual mode fan+aero car would be a good option. You could use the fan to ensure suction/traction as you transition to the roof, lower it in stages, with the option to speed it up again the microsecond you detect the aero isn't up to the task.
This project is mental and I think deserve lots of safety protections.
There is an old MS-DOS game called Stunts where you could do amazing things like loops, jump over massive bridges and .... drive upside down in a cylinder. Well there is obviously some limitations in the physics of the game at some extent but what I learned from it and from my engineering studies is that it's very tricky, though possible. One thing to note is that at least 2G is needed because 1G (normal) - 1G (upside down) = 0G (considering 1G as the force that equals the mass of the car) and this means you are floating in the surface. If you manage to put 1 extra G you will have, well, 1 net G and with 1G you might expect a behavior of a car without aerodynamics in the normal world. In other words what I'm trying to say is that the car you always behave as if it have -1G, simply put a car that can produce 4G in normal circumstances will deliver 3G upside down, so one might expect 3G behavior. On top of that the transition in the cylinder is very trick because you need to turn the car to keep momentum in the normal to upside down phase and deal with the loss in Gs and once you are getting upside down you need to straight it back, but with less Gs ...
It's dangerous, very dangerous.
And I'm really thrilled by the idea.
Good luck!