My first post: MP4/17 vs MP4/18

[Guest]

[cava]

search for the exausts

[Steven]

erm... can't find them I'm afraid
damn why the black painting

I see the airholes now where the chimneys once used to be, just oval holes now ... now this is a car that we can talk about
It's innovative in every angle you see it.

My guess about the exhausts is that they come out low, but not actually like they used to be. I think of it more like a whole like 15 cm above the ground, just where the sidepods are getting smaller rapidly. I hope I make this clear.. the sidepods are made so short and small that it seems to mee the best way of letting exhaust gases out was to eject them pointing to the rear, thereby not bending the pipes to exit on top of the sidepods. It would not lenghten the exhaust pipes (which is very good), and the gases can be used a little further on by the diffuser
I keep my statement here... Newey's been very busy with the rear

[cava]

My guess is trough the diffuser.
That becomes a very good airflow under the car but a very tricky rearend when deaccelerating. If they can control that vibrations, o man, boring season ahead. But i still think it wil be to late.

[Steven]

idd, and I want to add McLaren was the last to switch to the high Ferrari-exhausts. Before they were all using exhausts exiting in the center of the diffuser, and : McLaren's last trick to overcome that unstability was making one exhaust pipe shorter than the other
Anyway, I think it are both very good solutions, but with one being the better aerodynamically, my solution would be better for engine-power

Furthermore, I wish to say I liked the low exhausts in the diffuser more than Ferrari's, but that's my opinion of course

[cava]

Is that one exaust next to the rear tire? It looks like it.

[Steven]

could be yes, very hard to see I'm afraid

note the bump under the X of Alex under on the side-pod.
Seems like they have all made it that small that some parts just couldn't get in

[F1freak]

More pictures of front suspension setup and front wing at F1racing.net. Analyze away!!

[Mini Bernie]

I read in this weeks autosport that the exaust exits centrally either side of the brake light, just above the diffuser and below the lower plane of the rear wing. This is supposed to help the efficiency of the diffuser and
increase the downforce of the rear wing.

Also McLaren have a carbon Fibre gear box in development, but I don't think that will run at a race untill towards the end of the year.
This was confirmed by RD on wednesday.

What does anybody make of the way Newey has attached the front wing to the nose? I don't know about anybody else, but it looks like it will negate any advantage of the dual keel setup.

cheers
Bernie

ps theres a big picture spread at
http://www.itv-f1.com

[chanda]

if you look at the twin keel closely, you can see that at the base of it, it incorporates turning vanes as well. i think the idea is to allow the cleaner air from underneath the center of the front wing to be guided by these turning vanes and be directed to the diffusers and radiators.

[icef1mkd]

Definately, the exhausts aren’t visible! You’re probably close, they’re probabaly incorporated with the difusser or somewhere in the underside to help with the ground sucking effect, or something alse.
It’s also very visible massive work on every areas, we saw the wave-shaped front wing this winter, but I think even Ferrari hasn’t such shrinked sidepods.
The low and so thin nose cone is really radical, no midwings but rear tyre drag is completely minimized. I bet they have closely worked with Michelin with the suspension, especially the rear. The second set of wings at the rear wing look odd too. Definitely, this is the most radical thing I’ve ever seen so far.

[Mini Bernie]

On second thoughts;

I think what Newey has done, is to use the nose, to slow the flow over the upper surface, while the duel keel will accelerate the flow on the underside, hence a greater speed and pressure difference, resulting in more downforce.
While at the same time the nose joins to all three profiles, allowing for less flexing under load.

As for the rear wing, its been optimised with different cambers at different points, to allow for the different flows that are experienced at different points, ie clean flow at the ends, disturded flow from the engine cover.
Renault and BAR are already running this style of wing.

did anybody see the story at http://www.autosport.com quoting Newey as saying the new nose and sidepods where inspired by his time at Leyton-house?

cheers
Bernie

[arisen]

one more pic
img1

[Monstrobolaxa]

Well....I think you can see the diferences.....

[felipezsc]

To tell you the truth i think the mclaren just stuck with what they know. I think the mp4/18 looks a lot like a developed version of a F1 car from the early 90's.