Mercedes GP W02

[Italiano]

Are you seriously suggesting, that Mercedes got hold of a Ferrari F1 car, painted it in this hideous grey and put it on display in their gallery or museum, or whatever that is?

F1tech produces some weird stuff s...but this is a new level.

[xpensive]

I'm actually looking forward for what will happen ten days from now when we will see the W02 in its race disguise.

These are my predictions;

- The same ARW, which looks engineerishly delghtful if you ask me. Dix point!!!

- A rather state-of-the-art front wing, but nothing sensational.

- A much tidied-up rear end with xhausts to follow suit.

- Changing the side pods is too much of an interference with the overall aerodynamic concept, why they will stay.

- The xceptionally short wheelbase is revealed to be in line to MS' desire for an agile and "twitchy" car, which stay as is.

But that's just me.

[Richied76]

[removed part not about w02 - Giblet]

As far as the W02 is concerned i really dont see why a twitchy car was good idea even if it did suit MS. They knew a long time ago that this years tires where to be produced so that they wear faster. Surly a longer more stable platform would be a better starting block to be gentle on tires. OR does brackleys expert way of being able to produce a car that not only cant get heat into its tires also help on the wear problem?

[Mandrake]

As far as the W02 is concerned i really dont see why a twitchy car was good idea even if it did suit MS. They knew a long time ago that this years tires where to be produced so that they wear faster. Surly a longer more stable platform would be a better starting block to be gentle on tires. OR does brackleys expert way of being able to produce a car that not only cant get heat into its tires also help on the wear problem?

Twitchy doesn't necessarily mean higher tire temps and wear.

It's comparable to latest Fighting Jets. On their own they cannot fly properly, they need computers to make constant adjustments to be stable, but this is what gives them their agility.

If a F1 car is twitchy but manageable on the limit, there will be no under or oversteer (which leads to heat + wear) but the car will be held at the correct slip angle by the capable driver. If that "twitchyness" is too much though, you are right because driving will require a lot of corrections all the time.

[ovidiulucaci]

I think that real W02 will be revealed in 9 days time.
The side pods of the new Merc will be much different than we seen before. I think that the cooling system and the exhaust pips will bring something to argue....
Look at this pictures and explain to me what means that carbon fiber in the middle of the sidepod and why the bodywork is so much open in the top of the sidepod.

Cheers!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/f1photos/5 ... otostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/f1photos/5 ... otostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/f1photos/5 ... otostream/
http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/wp-content/u ... 2011-4.jpg
http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/wp-content/u ... 2011-3.jpg
http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/wp-content/u ... 2011-3.jpg
http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/wp-content/u ... 2011-1.jpg
http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/wp-content/u ... 011-21.jpg

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

Looking at this photo you can see how rough the actual car is.
It looks patched up. If you think back to the W01, and the Blade airbox design, Mercedes didnt show their concept until after the first three races, the bodywork had similar rough patches as this.
In this photo you can see some very dodgy body work just below and behind the actual Airbox, could this be intimating somthing in the pipeline for this area of the car?

[ovidiulucaci]

Yes! You are right the airbox is very rough finished (i seen that before you make the comment). Look where the camera is mounted, much back that the rivals and i think the airbox area will be very different from what we see.

[luca]

- The xceptionally short wheelbase is revealed to be in line to MS' desire for an agile and "twitchy" car, which stay as is.

About the short/long wheelbase, here it has been said that a longer wheelbase suits him more: viewtopic.php?p=225941#p225941

So, which is it?

P.S.: some other info in this thread too: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=8843

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

We may see the Airbox cut up toi the letter Z in Benz. You can almost follow the contours of the botch bodywork to see where the incisions could be made.
What benefit would be brought by opening this area? Cooling?

[horse]

What benefit would be brought by opening this area? Cooling?

If that bodywork is going to come off it will reveal a blade, surely? My feeling for the blade was that it's intention was to improve the aero to the rear wing.

[marcush.]

why come up with that trick twice...but the engine cover looks just plain fat almost like the Ligier JS5..


ok that´s a bit bigger..

[horse]

...but the engine cover looks just plain fat almost like the Ligier JS5.

Off topic, but I read on another forum that the designers of the JS5 reckoned the enormous airbox was an aerodynamic plus as it smoothed out the flow to the rear wing. Apparently the aero performance suffered once they were banned as the aero was less predictable.

I kind of see where they might be coming from, but it's hard to believe there wasn't some sort of drag penalty / wake from the thing.

[i70q7m7ghw]

Car would be illegal if you moved the airbox back to where the camera is. Only a blade would make it legal. The drivers head needs to be clear when you run a straight line from the top of the roll hoop down to a point on the nose.

[FrukostScones]

c'mon guys, maybe (and hopefully) the sidepods will change, but the Airbox? I m quite sure that the air inlet and rollover structure will stay the same. Also the shapes around the drivers head.

[horse]

The drivers head needs to be clear when you run a straight line from the top of the roll hoop down to a point on the nose.

It would be tight...