McLaren MP4-29 Mercedes

[Macklaren]

Side pods seem Much smaller no?

[acosmichippo]

Is that a phallus-free nose?

Looks like it from that pic, although the guy's leg could be blocking it. If it doesn't have an extension, it seems too high to be legal to me.

[markn93]

Is that a phallus-free nose?

Looks like it from that pic, although the guy's leg could be blocking it. If it doesn't have an extension, it seems too high to be legal to me.

That's what I fear. I think we'd have seen a photo or tweet or something if it were gone.

[SectorOne]

If this guy just could have dropped the angle of his camera a tiny bit we would have had a very nice picture of the front side of the "parachute" suspension arms.

[Nicola11]

Is that a phallus-free nose?

Looks like it from that pic, although the guy's leg could be blocking it. If it doesn't have an extension, it seems too high to be legal to me.

That's what I fear. I think we'd have seen a photo or tweet or something if it were gone.

Nope def. not a "phallus-free" nose ! Nose tip would be too high in this pic which is illegal this year

[akshat21]

Nope... The phallus is still there.

[Morteza]

Formula1.com

[horse]

You know, I see the suspension "blocker" and I see the diffuser gurney, and I just think God didn't mean them to go together.

Think about all the hard work that has gone on during the last aero cycle (since 2009) to improve the air quality to this part of the car by various team (William's tiny gearbox comes to mind) and then McLaren shove these things in there, that just seem to mess it all up.

Perhaps this demonstrates a lack of integration in the design - wouldn't you expect the diffuser gurney to have to change in the presence of the blocking suspension, for instance? I can't see the flow to it, the overall concept is missing. It's a shame because it's an innovative idea.

[flyboy2160]

....
You know, I see the suspension "blocker" and I see the diffuser gurney, and I just think God didn't mean them to go together....Perhaps this demonstrates a lack of integration in the design - wouldn't you expect the diffuser gurney to have to change in the presence of the blocking suspension, for instance? I can't see the flow to it...

I've long held that one of the things Gurney strips do is stabilize the separation point of the flow off the edge, just like the small flats on the ends of modern aircraft control surfaces. Without them the separation point can wander back and forth from the upper to the lower surface - which you don't want because the lift changes accordingly.

So I can see them still wanting the Gurney strips even with those mushroom thingies.

[horse]

So I can see them still wanting the Gurney strips even with those mushroom thingies.

Sure, sure, I agree. The gurneys or gurney flaps are amazing, and the teams seem to have driven them harder and harder over the years. It just seems like McLaren have "devalued" the importance of the gurney for the suspension blockers, and I'm not sure it has worked for them - especially in comparison to the Mercedes or Williams.

Honestly, I must admit to thinking that a solution like this was the way to go this year, the double diffuser of 2014, but it just seems a bit too Jekyll and Hyde. Like the Lotus FEE exhausts, perhaps.

[Per]

Aren't the gurneys and the suspension blockers operating on a whole different scale? The gurneys influence the boundary layer and generate a small chordwise vortex to 'suck out' the air from underneath the diffuser. But their effects are quite local. The suspension blockers change the direction of the whole airflow and reduce pressure in the entire area. Quite a different effect in my opinion, and both things are not necessarily mutually exclusive.

[hollus]

This is the new gearing in the McLarens since Austria (in colors) compared to the old (in gray).


These are the new measured ratios, compared to the old and to Toro Rosso's:

New McLaren     n/a   14.71 12.04   9.29   7.48   5.98   5.03   4.39
Old McLaren    19.38  12.58  9.35   7.73   6.34   5.45   4.84   4.37

These changes are quite extreme and the graph is a bit difficult to read (the new gears in colors are missing 1st, but it has all old 8 gears in gray, with 8th and 3rd almost hidden). 8th gear is almost identical to before, probably untouched with the difference being errors on my side, so this doesn't affect top speed. This also means that the change probably has nothing to do with Spa and Monza (they changed already in Austria).
From 8th down, everything has become shorter, much shorter, in a progressive way; to the extreme that the new 4th is virtually identical (possibly really identical) to the old 3rd. Then they shy again, with 3rd and 2nd less than a whole gear away from the old values, but still extremely short, their new 2nd is in line with many team's 1st gear. In fact, they effectively raced using only 3rd to 8th gear in Spa, with 2nd being engaged only rarely in heavy traffic. They would stay in 3rd even below 70Km/h in the hairpins.
This also means that now they have a quite unique approach to gearing, with their 4th gear (very similar for everyone else), being approximately like every other team's 3rd.
Either they know something that everyone else is missing, or they blundered big time.

And huge thanks to Juzh again for posting the videos!

[trinidefender]

This is the new gearing in the McLarens since Austria (in colors) compared to the old (in gray).
http://i.imgur.com/PWuQYc1.png

These are the new measured ratios, compared to the old and to Toro Rosso's:

New McLaren     n/a   14.71 12.04   9.29   7.48   5.98   5.03   4.39
Old McLaren    19.38  12.58  9.35   7.73   6.34   5.45   4.84   4.37

These changes are quite extreme and the graph is a bit difficult to read (the new gears in colors are missing 1st, but it has all old 8 gears in gray, with 8th and 3rd almost hidden). 8th gear is almost identical to before, probably untouched with the difference being errors on my side, so this doesn't affect top speed. This also means that the change probably has nothing to do with Spa and Monza (they changed already in Austria).
From 8th down, everything has become shorter, much shorter, in a progressive way; to the extreme that the new 4th is virtually identical (possibly really identical) to the old 3rd. Then they shy again, with 3rd and 2nd less than a whole gear away from the old values, but still extremely short, their new 2nd is in line with many team's 1st gear. In fact, they effectively raced using only 3rd to 8th gear in Spa, with 2nd being engaged only rarely in heavy traffic. They would stay in 3rd even below 70Km/h in the hairpins.
This also means that now they have a quite unique approach to gearing, with their 4th gear (very similar for everyone else), being approximately like every other team's 3rd.
Either they know something that everyone else is missing, or they blundered big time.

And huge thanks to Juzh again for posting the videos!

I think it was Williams that also ran very short gearing this year. Was it? Could you possibly post their gearing or place a link to a post where the gearing of various cars was shown?

[rscsr]

it's here
http://www.f1technical.net/forum/viewto ... =4&t=18700

[Thunder]

Italy Thursday via AMuS