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Porpoising would/should happen under braking, not flat out on the straight.

raymondu999 wrote:Porpoising would/should happen under braking, not flat out on the straight.

True, but braking is not neccesary, see here for an extreme case. Porpoising is the equivalent of torsion bending flutter that occurs when the energy being extracted by the structure from the air exceeds that disspated by the dampers & tyres (mostly the front dampers in this case). I think true to say that any aero vehicle will porpoise if the airspeed is sufficiently high (braking or not), but the "critical airspeed" can be reduced significantly if the dampers are not strong enough, or have been rendered ineffective with springs that are too stiff (the latter is sometimes the case during braking, courtesy of overenthusiastic bump rubbers).

I was re-watching the race as I recorded it, and I notice it doesn't happen with the white/silver and it should if it was real. I have decided it is most likely some optical trick cause by the word Pirelli being larger than the rest of the script. It was there on Michael's car as well, so it's not just a McLaren thing.
Sorry but I think it's really nothing but a trick of the eye.

having paid attention to this after watching several onboard videos, I'm inclined to agree. You can see how it merges into that pattern as the driver accelerates and the wheel speed increases.

Sure looks weird

Are we any closer to actually working out what is going on in the standing sidewall wave, even now that the season is over?

Still don't think it's real.

JT - you think it's a camera illusion?

That would be my first assumption, yes. Can't think of any reason for it otherwise.

thats all it is...an illusion caused by the fat part of the writing

Dont take this the wrong way but as far as pure force values F1 cars dont make THAT much downforce with the rules they have. I really doubt its that.