McLaren MP4-26 Mercedes

[wesley123]

OMG they copied a thing of my front wing :O

On the inner end plate at its end where the gurney sits, the bottom part got a similair addition to what i did to my front wing.

Overall a front wing that already was a piece of art becomes even better, looking really cool.

The car itself is really a ugly son of a b*tch, but i dont care how ugly it is, as long as it is quick it will do for me

[Robbobnob]

so im going to take a stab at this

they are trying to measure the front wing flex with the stays and the nose being a gimmick but also housing the sensors

[Richard]

as for the 4 string arrangement they obviously can measure tension only in the 4 strings and have to work out which is which...Bending ,twisting,shifting ...holy crap I ´d prefer not to have to deal with the maths to sort that out...especially when you can see on the REDBull picture the strings have no tension at all on one side..

I would have done that very different: build a support above the wing (whole width) and put string potis or maybe even rideheight sensors to it measuring the distance to the wing profile.

Ride height sensors would also get confusing information from variations in suspension, bumps in the road etc. Also they don't tell you the forces.

I see McL are using rods where Rb used wires. Presumably to measure compression as well as tension. I'd have though the maths was easy, more of a static problem that is easier to resolve than the dynamic analysis on other parts of the car, for example the suspension arms & linkages

I wonder if they are including for the lateral deflection of the rod under aero loads at high speed distorting the results?

Wouldn't a truss across the nose that was stiff enough to give accurate readings mess up the air flow too much? I prefer the current arrangement, much more elegant.

[routari]

If they can afford to do that, who cares?

I personally think the quality of all their testing and measuring equipment is fantastic. It seems they are as important in their design and finish as any other part of the car, as if it's all one big package.

With the effort they've put in to it, I'd say it's likely going to make further appearances on televised practice sessions throughout the year, when new wing designs are being tested.

[Hangaku]

No doubt that just plonking a big fat stick at then end of the car will disrupt the air flowing around the front of the car. Perhaps, they are trying to mitigate this disrupted air to get the truest readings possible from the whole of the front aero package.

I would guess that with their lack of miles, McLaren need to squeeze as much out of testing as possible, and if that means making things work better, I have no issues with this.

Besides, how much do you really think it costs to vaccum form a plastic mould, paint it silver, and stick a mercedes badge on it? I don't suppose there were many rainforests crying about it

[greenpower dude reloaded]

All this moaning just achieves what it's set out to do! It's all got you paying closer attention to the McLaren and temporarily makes the Merc badge more prominent.

I say they should all paint these sorts of devices! Having said that I'd like to see them get a Mercedes badge on a Pitot tube!

[Mandrake]

I personally think the quality of all their testing and measuring equipment is fantastic. It seems they are as important in their design and finish as any other part of the car, as if it's all one big package.

With the effort they've put in to it, I'd say it's likely going to make further appearances on televised practice sessions throughout the year, when new wing designs are being tested.

I don't think such a device would be legal in in-season testing would it?

The quality of testing equipment might be good, but is it needed that way? Last season the RedBull clearly had the best (that is the most flexing) wing, all achieved with a black pillar (similar to today's blade rollhoop shape, so it cannot be THAT unaerodynamic) and some cables.....

To the Cost aspect, sure it doesn't cost a lot, but it will cost more than the RBR device, and a lot of small expeditures will sum up to a large amount in the end as well.

[Onch]

RBR5 in wintertesting 2009:

Problem with strings is that they cannot give any information about compression forces, as the picture demonstrates.
So that McLaren are doing it with rods instead of cables makes sense in this respect.

On a side note I am astounded as to how much the wing moves laterally , had not seen this picture before.

[routari]

I think with the testing rules as they are, budget doesn't count for as much. Red Bull just had the better ideas and designs.

I don't think McLaren being less 'McLaren' and not putting as much thought into their testing apparatus would make them any quicker.

I don't think they're fund limited.

And I think that's a good thing for F1.

The best of fortune to Red Bull, or any team, for as long as they think smarter!

I certainly don't see this testing apparatus as something to be angry about, or worthy of scorn and ridicule.

It's just McLaren, and that's what makes them interesting to me. This is their level and attention to detail.

[marcush.]

you make me laugh..
it is 40g of laquer and a really easy mold for the cover ...done in a few hours.
The redbull thing looks to me like it was structural,whereas Mclaren has put the structure simply on the nose and covered it with the bulge.
to me the REDBULL thing looks like a elaborate part whereas the Mclaren thing is just a cover.the paint ..well if you got30 seconds to touch it up when you are painting the thing anyways...

but luke is bang on the money -we are looking at it - even if it´s a star we are looking at...

[routari]

Scarbs: McLaren Pod: stranger rumours suggest the quite strong looking struts are hydraulic and move the wing to replicate different flex, the results can then be measured in order to engineer subsequent wings to flex in a similar manner. the hydr set up is legal for testing, then as RBR proved last year a wing can flex as long as it meets the FIA test

Maybe this is an explanation. It's a better attempt at trying to figure what's going on than just moaning because it looks complicated for what you assume it to be...

[raymondu999]

I believe the teams were free to choose 4 out of 5 possible days. McLaren just chose to have 2 days, a gap, and 2 days. Other teams could also do it. They still have more than 24 hours to follow McLaren's idea, too.

[marcush.]

hydraulic struts:
How much force would you be able to exert on the wing with such a flimsy rod before it buckles? 20N?
the one thing you could do was to produce the wing very very weak and put the rods under tension hydraulically to reduce the amount of bending ...to see what is the max you need to have.

[FW17]

Why is it off centered?

[horse]

hydraulic struts:
How much force would you be able to exert on the wing with such a flimsy rod before it buckles? 20N?
the one thing you could do was to produce the wing very very weak and put the rods under tension hydraulically to reduce the amount of bending ...to see what is the max you need to have.

They must have some compliance, also. Just as one side of the RB cables went slack when cornering this system must allow the wing to pivot, by letting the tubes on one side compress. Would it be worth measuring the level of compression?