Mclaren MP4-31 Honda Speculation Thread

[bauc]

http://www.mclaren.com/formula1/car/" target="_blank" target="_blank

Nothing too MP4-31 related for now (maybe the following episodes will be beefier) but wow, 3 Months to make a Brake Disc

There will be 6 episodes leading to the car launch on Sunday, but from first gimps of over all style, is it safe to say that the black & red livery will remain on the MP4-31? I guess its natural after all since Mclaren Honda want to distinguish themselves from the competition so a ''common'' livery should be what we get on Sunday.

[mclaren111]

I remember in the old days when McLaren made the discs themselves it was even longer !!

Giving away my age

[Wazari]

I remember in the old days when McLaren made the discs themselves it was even longer !!

Giving away my age

When did McLaren make their own brake discs?

[Egresi Tamás]

https://twitter.com/McLarenF1/status/699312623649755136

[mclaren111]

Wazari:

When did McLaren make their own brake discs?

1980's - I remember reading an article about it.
No internet in those days.

[majki2111]

The new McLaren-Honda is fast, but unreliable

Alonso and Button's new car, the McLaren-Honda MP4-31, which will be unveiled on Saturday, has been on the road, at least virtually, for the past few days at its factory in Woking (England). With the chassis assembled - along with the new and revamped Japanese engine - at their Technology Centre, the team began their first intensive tests in the test bank. MARCA sources have confirmed that the first overall conclusions have been positive. There has been a significant increase in the car's power. Estimating how much is as useless as it is absurd, but they do know that the car has gained in terms of horsepower thanks to the modifications and the introduction of a more powerful turbo and compressor than the one used in 2015. The new MGU-H (which captures waste heat from the exhaust turbocharger via an electric generator) and improvements to the electronic management system have also brought improvements. That said, it is not all good news at McLaren, because the new car, even under the ideal laboratory conditions in which the tests were performed, has repeatedly broken down, nearly always as a result of the new turbocharger fitted in the Honda's propulsion system.

[trinidefender]

The new McLaren-Honda is fast, but unreliable
http://estaticos02.marca.com/assets/mul ... 799048.jpg
Alonso and Button's new car, the McLaren-Honda MP4-31, which will be unveiled on Saturday, has been on the road, at least virtually, for the past few days at its factory in Woking (England). With the chassis assembled - along with the new and revamped Japanese engine - at their Technology Centre, the team began their first intensive tests in the test bank. MARCA sources have confirmed that the first overall conclusions have been positive. There has been a significant increase in the car's power. Estimating how much is as useless as it is absurd, but they do know that the car has gained in terms of horsepower thanks to the modifications and the introduction of a more powerful turbo and compressor than the one used in 2015. The new MGU-H (which captures waste heat from the exhaust turbocharger via an electric generator) and improvements to the electronic management system have also brought improvements. That said, it is not all good news at McLaren, because the new car, even under the ideal laboratory conditions in which the tests were performed, has repeatedly broken down, nearly always as a result of the new turbocharger fitted in the Honda's propulsion system.

This reaks of just a pure speculation article.

Inside sources say the Pistons will be replaced with little monkeys moving around and fed by sugar water.

I'll estimate both statements have about as much actual "insider information" in them. The fact that a few journalists and news company's seem to be copying each other and printing this makes me think that it is a guess that they made thinking that Honda knew what to fix and could implement it for this year but didn't have enough time to make everything reliable.

[turbof1]

This reaks of just a pure speculation article.

Well, fits right with a speculation topic don't you think .

In all seriousness, it doesn't really sound thrustworthy to me either. You can say it's at best a calculated guess since it got confirmed the TC will be upgraded, but that's not a guarantee either it'll be unreliable.

[Wazari]

Wazari:

When did McLaren make their own brake discs?

1980's - I remember reading an article about it.
No internet in those days.

Hmmm..............I worked with McLaren in the 80's and I remember the carbon ceramic brakes being manufactured by HITCO. I believe they were the only ones offering carbon brakes back then for auto racing.

[Thunder]

I like the "Confidential" Stamp. Makes it 100% more trustworthy.

[turbof1]

Yeah like those companies from the 90s and 00s putting stamps, signs and marks on their products telling it is a recognized quality/safety/integral product.

Or something like "contains no tracing of crocodile!*"

*might contain traces of Panda instead.

[bonjon1979]

The only thing I find interesting about the article is the test bed they mention. It was my understanding that merc had a dyno that allowed them to put the engine in the chassis and run the whole thing. Is there anything in the rules stopping them from putting a car on a rolling road inside a room where they can simulate temperature etc. You'd think that with a lack of real testing it would be invaluable to be able to do such a thing.

[godlameroso]

Ferrari gained a little over a second between the final race of 2014 and the final race of 2015, given that aero went backwards from 2014-2015, they gained roughly between 1 - 1.3 seconds of pace from the engine alone. If Honda makes a similar leap (~1 second from the new power unit), and they make a half second gain from the chassis, they'll still be a second off last year's pace. I don't think that Mercedes will improve much, maybe .25 - .5 seconds per lap, as they barely improved from 2014 - 2015. This means that the MP4-31 will start the season about ~1.25 seconds off the pace, if they make a similar leap to Ferrari from last year. Full season of development and they could probably bring that down to .5 seconds if they make a breakthrough sometime mid season around the European GP.

Realistically I expect them to be within .7 sec per lap slower than Mercedes by the end of 2016, but who knows, it may be more and it may be less.

[mclaren111]

Wazari:

Hmmm..............I worked with McLaren in the 80's and I remember the carbon ceramic brakes being manufactured by HITCO. I believe they were the only ones offering carbon brakes back then for auto racing.

I do remember reading an article on McLaren and they manufacturing their brake pads.
I will do some research on this and revert back to you........

[taperoo2k]

This reaks of just a pure speculation article.

Well, fits right with a speculation topic don't you think .

In all seriousness, it doesn't really sound thrustworthy to me either. You can say it's at best a calculated guess since it got confirmed the TC will be upgraded, but that's not a guarantee either it'll be unreliable.

Even if the TC is unreliable at first Honda can improve it as the season progresses with the aim of gathering data on it with 2017 in mind.
I'm expecting the MP4-31 will be faster than last year's car but reliability is the question mark. So it's fairly easy to speculate that it'll be fast but unreliable in the press aka educated guesswork no need for inside sources. Though unlikely you can't discount McLaren are playing journalists to build up a certain expectation only for them to smash it in testing and the first race for PR.

What I hope Honda gives McLaren is a reliable power unit so they can get on with perfecting the MP4-31 so they can iron out issues on the McLaren side of the equation i.e. PP works his magic and steps out of the shadow of Newey.