Vodafone McLaren MP4-27 Mercedes

[jamesalexw]

Placeholder diffusor.

I think you can literally discount pretty much everything about this car apart from the general layout....

[Ferraripilot]

I'm not so sure about this one guys. The dihedral in the sidepods has me concerned they are running very high packaging and thus high CoG there....... it's a head scratcher

[sAx]

Here the rear cooling is quite visible and quite low.

Rear packaging looks quite efficient (single point), though not quite FW34esque with ultra low gearbox and acutely angled drive shafts.

sAx

[kalinka]

Here the rear cooling is quite visible and quite low.

Yeah, that's the result of utilising the now free octopus-area + a probably smaller gearbox too IMHO. Any confirmation yet on new(smaller) gearbox ?

[horse]

It looks a bit plain, doesn't it? I think the most interesting thing for me is the loss of the secondary cooling inlet. This indicates that they have made an improvement in packaging (probably with the KERS) if they feel they don't require this for additional cooling anymore. I would say that that is a subtle, but significant step.

Regarding the length, do we know it's shorter? I guess if there is going to be less dependency on the diffuser this year then it would make some sense (which I still think this is what Mercedes were thinking last year) to bring the centre of pressure forward and reduce the overall drag of the car.

I also think the nose cone looks more complicated than last year where they have had to deal with the new under nose regs, but I would need a direct comparison to be sure.

[Giblet]

The extra cooling outlets appear in the radiator openings now I think.

[horse]

The extra cooling outlets appear in the radiator openings now I think.

EDIT: Do you mean inlet rather than outlet? Anyway, most of this post still works.

Well I thought the second inlet fed an additional radiator? For the oil cooling? I don't remember. Anyway if this assembly has been reduced then I guess you have less weight, a smaller internal volume to work with and a reduction in drag from not having the second inlet.

[ml_27]

In terms of the roll hoop at the top of the car, have we seen a return of the 'ears' layout?

I remember last year other team eventually all had a second air intake for separate cooling to the engine (i.e. gearbox, etc).

This seems to have disappeared from the new photos.

[Trocola]

One week waiting for this presentarion, hoping for something radical and boder-line legal (as withmarsh said), and they just showed an MP4-25 without the shark-fin and a bit different sidepods. Maybe that is the ilegal thing: it is the same car from 2 seasons ago

I do not see anything that is new on this car. Let's hope it is at least fast


Trocola

PD: if there is something on my post that you do not understand, here is my apology for my poor english

[sAx]

Here the rear cooling is quite visible and quite low.

Rear packaging looks quite efficient (single point), though not quite FW34esque with ultra low gearbox and acutely angled drive shafts.

sAx

nee '33 of course!

sAx

[allstaruk08]

they stole my exhaust position idea, i worked on it till 3:30am to try get it done but i got too tired lol viewtopic.php?f=6&t=10866 looks nice its a shame they didnt keep the L pods though

[Richied76]

not a duct from the tip of the nose where the pressure is high to vent the pressure behind the low pressure void of the front wheels? Even a small increase in pressure behind the wheels would allow more of the turbulant air from the tires to detach and flow better down stream over the body? Reduce drag too

[CHT]

nose section does look alot beefier than last year. they will need a strong guy for the nose change.

[dan]

is the bodywork around the exhausts channeling it towards the brake duct fins?
is that the potential illegal bit

glad to see a sensible nose

[ajprice]

I'm still trying to work out how they got it within the rules with a smooth nose



All I can think of is that their 275mm section starts lower than the drawing, making the underside of the nose lower (maybe allowing them to make that extended tea tray up to the front wing. So the top surface is the gentle curve from cockpit to nose tip. The Caterham is more like the drawing, with a straight line from the cockpit, a step down and a straight line to the nose tip.

Do the rules state that the top of the 275mm section has to be the same height as the cockpit, or just that that section of the car has to be 275mm deep?