McLaren MP4-27 Mercedes (pre-launch speculation)

[Shrieker]

Duh. So much for ground effect It'll still be interesting to see whatever they come up with though. As far as I can see, the desing target is again to get a better airflow to the rear of the car.

[Richard]

If you turn the L pods upside down and then remove the bit of floor under it, you get...

- Higher CoG
- Blockage to the current clean air flow over the top
- A tunnel filled with turbulent air from the suspension and front wing.
- The "skirt" would be the same height as the current floor, and that hight is set to avoid ground effects (ie the 50mm step plane)
- The underfloor aero needs a flat floor as close as possible to the ground to generate a low pressure zone, a large volume tunnel would ruin that.
- Rule 3.12 requires the floor to be flat and lie on the reference & step planes.

So I'm not sure it would give any aero benefit, and it is also illegal.

[shelly]

This image

from the 150th thread shows the fornt upper side crash tubes detached form the sidepod and faired. Concept rumored for the 4-27 could be an evolution of this.

PS I agrre that it could be useful to create a more general thread on sidepod aero, maybe starting from what Gary Anderson (designer of that jordans whose picture have been frequently posted in this thread) has recently written on autosport

[raymondu999]

Sorry I don't see the crash tubes; mind pointing them out?

[shelly]

Before the two santander logos on top fo the leading edges of the sidepods you can see two black slots and before them the two short crash structures.
These two seem a bit short though - I am not 100% sure

[raymondu999]

Eh? Those are the stalks on which the mirrors are mounted. And the "black spots" are the "chimneys" on the side pod's leading edge "lip"

[shelly]

I am not referring to the mirrors. I think there is one of the four crash structures inside the sidepod lip.

[matt21]

Crash structure of the F150th.

Driven by pure speculation I have drawn my McLaren MP4-27 "Jump Jet"

Does anybody think it is possible to place the radiators horizontal behind the crash structure and shape the fairing as a wing? Would the heat rejection be enough then? Maybe to use also the heat from the radiators in order to achieve a higher pressure above the upper side of the "wing" or the floor respectively.

[Richard]

Do you mean flat plate heat exchangers? like the Brabham BT46? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brabham_BT46

That'll not work, they struggle to cool the cars enough with all that air rushing through the conventional radiator grills. Conventional radiators have a much larger surface area for heat exchange.

[shelly]

matt21 posted a much better picture! Now you see what I mean, raymondu999?

[raymondu999]

Yup; you're saying that the crash tube/structure is in front of that hole on top, are you not?

[shelly]

Exactly - I am not 100% because is a bit short; but also lrgp has a similar arrangement.

Now the possible approach for 4-27 could be an extremisation of this

[raymondu999]

Ah! Now I get what you're saying! (I think). You think MP4-27 will feature basically that oversized Botox-ed "lip" of the sidepod and extend it to a full aerofoil?

[matt21]

Do you mean flat plate heat exchangers? like the Brabham BT46? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brabham_BT46

That'll not work, they struggle to cool the cars enough with all that air rushing through the conventional radiator grills. Conventional radiators have a much larger surface area for heat exchange.

But you can use the whole length and maybe some cooling fins as ringo propsed for KERS in another thread.

[raymondu999]

You mean kind of like a computer server's heatsink "fins?" Kind of like this concept: