McLaren 'High' Nose

[Just_a_fan]

Seems like a reasonable each-way bet based on his dislike of McLaren and his apparent ability to look at a few photos on launch day and say that the car is a failure that will never win a race.

Shame he can't pick winning lottery numbers so easily - then we could fund our own F1 team!

[yace]

teams with step noses had a very high nose on their cars of 2011, because of the lack of testings, they wanted to use the maximum data from last year, so they built these noses.

mclaren already have this nose last season, so it was legal for 2012 so they had no reason to change it

[Holm86]

So the advantage of the low McLaren nose is better front mechanical grip because of the lower CoG and less angle on suspension arms right??

So would McLaren not take even more advantage of a front pull-rod suspension to lower the CoG even more??

[CHT]

Having stepped nose is not an advantage by any mean, it is unwanted compromise imposed by change of FIA regulations, to which Mclaren was "immune", because their 2011 car was already meeting 2012 nose height regulations.

Mclaren had lowered chassis in 2011, same goes for 2012 chassis. That is why they didn't have to lower the nose.

They had advantage over other teams, and they've kept it. Having lowered chassis enabled them not to be forced to have stepped nose and ruin car's aero efficiency.

so far in testing, they have not shown they have this advantage yet.

[JayeOFarrell]

It is really surprising that Mclaren have not taken advantage if pull rod suspension, it would seem the obvious road to go down other then that this car is clearly a evolution car. By sticking to what they know they are not having to relearn all the characteristics and set up of the car and thus, pulling out a advantage. The pull rod suspension would completely nullify the advantage gained by sticking to what they know by alternating the geometry of the front end in my opinion

[Pup]

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[munudeges]

Is McLaren's low nose the wrong direction to go in? It's a reasonable question given that every other team has chosen a different direction and people like Gary Anderson have questioned their ability to develop the car later in the season without enough mass flow to work with given a higher nose.

However, it's really a gut feel for McLaren. Only they know what their philosophy is behind it and if they can be extremely efficient with the mass flow they have available it might even give them a slight advantage. Sometimes having too much of something doesn't give you back as much as you thought.

There is another team with a pull-rod front suspension and a step in a high nose who are having more problems than McLaren at the moment..........

[Lycoming]

I'm not convinced that front pullrod would be beneficial for Mclaren. While they could arguable make it work better than ferrari, the CoG advantage is not really enough on its own to justify pullrod; there has to be a notable aerodynamic improvement from packaging the suspension in a pullrod configuration and while this is true for the rear, its less true at the front; pullrod front does not alter the airflow as much as pullrod rear does, at least not that I can see. Evidently ferrari have either decided that they do gain a significant aero advantage from front pullrod, or they disagree with my original statement and feel the lower CoG is worth it. either way, the answer will become more clear in melbourne.

On the flip side, I'm somewhat surprised Mclaren did not go high nose this year; I think last year they really struggled with getting enough rear downforce at certain tracks, and a high nose would seem an obvious route to go in terms of rectifying that. They did add an upgrade package in suzuka that seemed to help, but the loss of the blown diffuser does set them back in terms of rear grip. Clearly they have reasoned that they can make the car work with the low nose, but again, it will become more clear in melbourne.

[manchild]

Having stepped nose is not an advantage by any mean, it is unwanted compromise imposed by change of FIA regulations, to which Mclaren was "immune", because their 2011 car was already meeting 2012 nose height regulations.

Mclaren had lowered chassis in 2011, same goes for 2012 chassis. That is why they didn't have to lower the nose.

They had advantage over other teams, and they've kept it. Having lowered chassis enabled them not to be forced to have stepped nose and ruin car's aero efficiency.

so far in testing, they have not shown they have this advantage yet.

http://www.f1technical.net/news/17140?s ... 641405ea39

See?