McLaren MP4-26 Mercedes

[timd]

One exhaust blowing beam wing one blown centre line of diffuser / engine start hole?

[ringo]

I think they may put the exhausts in a similar fashion to Virgin.

It's not blowing the starter hole like some think. The starter hole is too small an area compared to the rest of the diffuser.
If you look the virgin exhausts are pointed away from the starter hole. Maybe some gas will blow through it, but i think most of it is being sent over the top and to the sides.
Mclaren may do something similar, maybe with flat rectangular pipes shaped like vacuum cleaner snouts?

[forty-two]

Mclaren may do something similar, maybe with flat rectangular pipes shaped like vacuum cleaner snouts?

Oh if they do, I wish they'd tune the pipes to make a wierd noise... and that this somehow ends up being hugely beneficial in terms of race pace (perhaps they choose a note which hypnotises the other drivers, but the McLaren guys are secretly wearing noise cancelling earplugs)

[adrianjordan]

Mclaren may do something similar, maybe with flat rectangular pipes shaped like vacuum cleaner snouts?

Oh if they do, I wish they'd tune the pipes to make a wierd noise... and that this somehow ends up being hugely beneficial in terms of race pace (perhaps they choose a note which hypnotises the other drivers, but the McLaren guys are secretly wearing noise cancelling earplugs)

Or (given that soundwaves are effectively shockwaves in the air) a frequency that causes a drop in power of the engines of any following cars...

[Rino]

GaryPaffett: Just back from Spain. A good day running the MP4-26 today. Car ran very well and engineers are happy. Let's see how it goes at Jerez.

Still no pictures?

[ESPImperium]

Id love to know what tracks they used for the shakedown and aero test day:

http://www.idiada.es/web/descargas/proving_ground.pdf

Id recon Dynamic Platform A for the aero test and possibly the Dry Handling Track for the shakedown.

[ringo]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StPeDlGEDes[/youtube]

[forty-two]

Excellent video Ringo, much better than the live stream would have suggested (or the bit I saw at least).

I think, given the "fans" that happened to be there, the quiet was more than a little bit disturbing. But in an odd way, I've known precisely the opposite situation be just as wierd.

For example, I went to pantomime this year and saw a few hundred people in Wimbledon theatre laughing their faces off at Louis Spence because he was saying completely inappropriate things to an audience of at least 40% children. I literally didn't get it, and I like a laugh!

[Belatti]

Am I the only one that thinks this is bulky?

I know just a little bit about aerodynamics, and I prefer a clean butt rather than a wise front.

[raymondu999]

Is it just me, or is the 26 wider around the midsection, where the sidepods are? Even the 25 terminates into a tighter teardrop shape.

Having said that, we're not seeing the undercut here as well. They have a small double-floor thing going on as well on the 26, no?

And I think the change of logo positioning on the nose could be playing tricks on you seeing a wider nose there

[Biscuit]

Pretty sure at their widest points the sidepod width is the same. The teams all max out the spec I believe for that.

3.4 Width ahead of the rear wheel centre line:
3.4.1 Bodywork width between the front and rear wheel centre lines must not exceed 1400mm.

But it definately is a more stout shape further back.

The 25 didn't have the most shapely rear either. It's possible that the innovative side-pods are actually an airflow compromise due to packaging limitations at the rear keeping it wider. But I'd be surprised to find that the Mercedes was able to better McLaren by that much. The W02 is very tight at the rear and probably has at least some similar packaging concerns due to the shared engine.

More-likely McLaren believe their new side-pods provide better airflow than a tight rear? Going to be interesting to see how that particular gamble works out. Especially given that Red Bull know their solution works well and the other teams all have to play catchup this year.

[raymondu999]

Pretty sure at their widest points the sidepod width is the same. The teams all max out the spec I believe for that.

3.4 Width ahead of the rear wheel centre line:
3.4.1 Bodywork width between the front and rear wheel centre lines must not exceed 1400mm.

But it definately is a more stout shape further back.

The 25 didn't have the most shapely rear either. It's possible that the innovative side-pods are actually an airflow compromise due to packaging limitations at the rear keeping it wider. But I'd be surprised to find that the Mercedes was able to better McLaren by that much. The W02 is very tight at the rear and probably has at least some similar packaging concerns due to the shared engine.

More-likely McLaren believe their new side-pods provide better airflow than a tight rear? Going to be interesting to see how that particular gamble works out. Especially given that Red Bull know their solution works well and the other teams all have to play catchup this year.

I'm not talking about the sidepod width. I'm saying that towards the rear where it terminates, the shape in projection from the top (as in the photos) is tighter, with a "sharper" point

[myurr]

Yes it is bigger, but I doubt this is for packaging reasons so is much more likely to be aero. There is an undercut at that point and obviously the top is flattening out to supply air to the beam wing. To my CFD capable eyeball it looks like a deliberate aero feature to keep the airflow to the beam wing as high quality as possible.

[myurr]

Found this pic further back in the thread. Gives a reasonable view of what's going on back there:

[Biscuit]

The other difference at the very tip of the rear body work is the launch 25 didn't have much of a cooling opening at the tip. Later revisions like Hungary had a much wider opening similar to the RB.

The unveiled 26 has that cooling exhaust at the tip of the rear. Pics from an earlier post had a blowup...

viewtopic.php?p=222297#p222297