Vodafone McLaren MP4-27 Mercedes

[bhall]

1 word: wow!

Exactly. You know the --- has hit the fan when a team copies another team's copy of their original.

[Owen.C93]

ok pics on wri2.net

Such a pain to navigate.

It kinda looks like they are trying to replicate the effect of Red Bull Valencia's side pod. Airflow of the undercut and the exhaust flow are clearly attempted to be seperated. It might be possible that in later races they will evolve closer to the tunnel of Red Bull.

Red-Bull looks least like the McLaren exhaust than most teams. I don't understand why people keep trying to pull up these comparisons. It's very much like the Ferrari exhaust now.

[N12ck]

Does the beam wing look somewhat deeper to anyone else?

they are bound by regulations so cant be any deeper

[turbof1]

The new update aim to increase rear downforce, which they lack

But I think they now are at the limit with front downforce, with the not optimal nose shape
they have poor front DF and at previous races front wing was loaded at maximum
Last year this wing was able to support EBD only because of the low nose & snowplough
Now it suffices barely to generate enough front df
(Button suffer always of massive understeer ...)
Expect them to go to a new design sometime

They clearly still can increase increase front downforce, but they had to keep the aero balance in check. They didn't only removed the snowplough; they also come from a straight main plane (=more peak downforce) to curved forms at the Y250 axes (=better directing airflow and less drag). If their rear downforce improves enough through the season, you can expect that they'll reintroduce the snowplough and/or the straight main plane.
They might however also throw away their current wing design altogether and converge to general one used by the majority of the field.

[Jef Patat]

Ok so slightly different.
New.

Old:

I'm not an aerodynamic expert but I never really got a grip on the "high nose" reasoning. It seems like it is always suggested that a high nose somehow will create more downforce, but I don't get how it can do that. Front downforce is created by the front wing, a high/low nose does not make much difference here. Rear downforce is created mainly by the diffuser and rear wing, and I don't see where the high/low nose has any influence on that besides the fact that a high nose might be able to let more air pass to the lower part of the sidepods which can then flow back inside direction floor/diffuser.

The thing that botters me most is that for this reasoning to work air needs to be able to pass as easilly as possible at the bottom of the sidepods. This seems to be what has been achieved with this update. In the pics it doesn't look big at first sight but I think it might be quite important, the lower part of the sidepods seems to be more inbound.

[N12ck]

High nose, more air below nose, so more air to the rear of the car (it is this air that travels round the sidepod undercut) more air to do more with =more downforce

[turbof1]

Red-Bull looks least like the McLaren exhaust than most teams. I don't understand why people keep trying to pull up these comparisons. It's very much like the Ferrari exhaust now.

In shape yes, and they are still quite far off from Red Bull their tunnel. However, the sidepods are notably different from Ferrari:
http://kepfeltoltes.hu/120705/127_mediu ... es.hu_.jpg

Ferrari does not have that extra bodywork behind the exhaust. On the new side pod of mclaren, bodywork sweeps to the back end of the mclaren. Also the exhausts are a bit more inward then Ferrari (still a bit more outward then Red Bull though). I think it is a intermediate version; the sidepods are for me evolving towards the red bull one, which does seem the way to go by accelerating air under a tunnel towards the diffuser.

We also know that Ferrari actually was developping towards McLaren. IMO, the previous iteration from McLaren looked much closer to Ferrari their current one:
http://www.formule1.nl/media/uploads/me ... 430.36.jpg
new one:
http://motorsport.nextgen-auto.com/gall ... ul/290.jpg

Clearly McLaren's aim now is to keep air routed under bodywork as long as possible towards the diffuser. Ferrari aim basicilly is to keep exhaust flow and airflow seperated. Same goal for McLaren, only that they actually try to better redirect the airflow and (correct me if I am wrong) accelerate it.

[bhall]

Where McLaren has veered toward Ferrari is not so much with the exhaust itself, but with the angle of the exhaust in relation to the sidepod as well as the louvered vent just aft of the exhaust.

[morefirejules08]

Where McLaren has veered toward Ferrari is not so much with the exhaust itself, but with the angle of the exhaust in relation to the sidepod as well as the louvered vent just aft of the exhaust.

I think McLarens solution is much cleaner and more visually aerodynamic than Ferrari's

[bhall]

I don't know what visually aerodynamic means.

[morefirejules08]

I don't know what visually aerodynamic means.

Look at the Ferrari solution in comparison to McLarens and the McLaren looks more aerodynamic, it flows from one surface to the next with more fluidity. Im not saying it is more aerodynamic its just looks it

[PhillipM]

There certainly looks to be much less volume in the sidepod (they're getting seriously tiny this year anyway!), when you disregard the bulk for the exhaust flow conditioning. Look at that floor area exposed at the rear.

[CjC]

Button has said that the update should work straight away because is a straightforward update, he said it has nothing to do with the complex exhaust flow. Something along those lines anyway, I've posted the link recently on this thread

[bhall]

I don't know what visually aerodynamic means.

Look at the Ferrari solution in comparison to McLarens and the McLaren looks more aerodynamic, it flows from one surface to the next with more fluidity. Im not saying it is more aerodynamic its just looks it

Would it surprise you to learn that a brick is just as aerodynamic as the Concorde?

[morefirejules08]

I don't know what visually aerodynamic means.

Look at the Ferrari solution in comparison to McLarens and the McLaren looks more aerodynamic, it flows from one surface to the next with more fluidity. Im not saying it is more aerodynamic its just looks it

Would it surprise you to learn that a brick is just as aerodynamic as the Concorde?

I very much doubt it is at twice the speed of sound