Comparison of all 2011 cars

[FW17]

Why are todays cars look so bulky in the mid section. Engineers have been working every year to obtain a tighter packaging but still when you look at early 90's they look bulky in comparison.

Here below is a lambo 291, a v12, trans gearbox and a full race fuel tank yet look at the size of that thing in comparison to todays cars (comparison based on pictures only, actual data not available) but comparing the height of wheels and side pod that car is sleek

Discussions in the other threads on the max airflow to the beam wing, but this car puts all of them (specially Mclaren) to shame

[halllo_fireball]

Just think of safety - these old sidepods won't be much help in the event of a side crash.

[shelly]

Also 1991 cars were much wider (max width 2150 instead of 2000 from 1993 and 1800 from 1998), with larger track width and larger tyres, so in comparison bodywork seems smaller and sleeker

[kakogohrena]

compare MP4-26 vs RB7 on track Melbourne

[bot6]

compare MP4-26 vs RB7 on track Melbourne

The angle of the car is different, so it's hard to take anything from this...

[Richard]

compare MP4-26 vs RB7 on track Melbourne

The angle of the car is different, so it's hard to take anything from this...

That's a bad comparison. We need to be sure they are at the same point on the track with the same photographer. We also need to see both airboxes and rear wings at teh same time because they are at fixed identical heights.

Darren Heath has done that, he says these two pics are the same place and came camera angle ... the pics are gone - curse twitter!

[ianwit]

compare MP4-26 vs RB7 on track Melbourne

The angle of the car is different, so it's hard to take anything from this...

I don't think its too far out, check out the position of the four wheels in relation to each of the cars, only the furthest wheel away is slightly out. Considering the speed of the cars and the vagaries of photography I reckon its a remarkable match up.

[Mchamilton]

compare MP4-26 vs RB7 on track Melbourne

The angle of the car is different, so it's hard to take anything from this...

That's a bad comparison. We need to be sure they are at the same point on the track with the same photographer. We also need to see both airboxes and rear wings at teh same time because they are at fixed identical heights.

Darren Heath has done that, he says these two pics are the same place and came camera angle ... the pics are gone - curse twitter!

i dont think the rear wings are at fixed heights, the rear wheels of the 2 cars line up pretty well yet the red bull rear wing is considerably higher.
the cars are at almost identical angles too going by the rear wheel rim.
the left end of the mclaren front wing is lower than the red bull yet the right side of the red bull is lower by at least twice the amount.
the red bull is running more rake and we know the mclaren runs very stiff, so the red bull would pitch into the corner more than the mclaren.
from the head on pictures that have been posted on the web the mclarens wing flexes considerably more than the mclarens anyway..

[forty-two]

Interesting comparison. I didn't realise until now how much higher is the RBR's nose is. Also it seems the driver position is considerably higher too. I'd say at least 4-5cm.

image

What's that vertical ridge that going across the top of the dissuser and continuing down under the crash structure ? What's the purpose of it? It looks like it's directly in way of the airflow...or it's just some kind of optical illusion

I'm not sure I know what you mean by vertical ridge.

There is a gurney flap running along the top trailing edge, but that is quite standard. The only other thing I think you might mean is approx halfway between the trailing edge and the driveshaft where the "scoops" of the diffusor begin, and I think that this is an optical illusion, but it could be something tasty?

I think it's probably the angle of the picture, but the gurneys either side of the crash structure seem to be asymmetrical to me?

[shelly]

compare MP4-26 vs RB7 on track Melbourne

The angle of the car is different, so it's hard to take anything from this...

I don't think its too far out, check out the position of the four wheels in relation to each of the cars, only the furthest wheel away is slightly out. Considering the speed of the cars and the vagaries of photography I reckon its a remarkable match up.

roll hoop cameras are mismatched by some cm.. I reckon it si difficult to find a better alignement for comparison

[kakogohrena]

Interesting comparison. I didn't realise until now how much higher is the RBR's nose is. Also it seems the driver position is considerably higher too. I'd say at least 4-5cm.

RB7 chassi and driver realy higher 3-5 cm. Here is another comparison, right side

[hollowBallistix]

Interesting comparison. I didn't realise until now how much higher is the RBR's nose is. Also it seems the driver position is considerably higher too. I'd say at least 4-5cm.

RB7 chassi and driver realy higher 3-5 cm. Here is another comparison, right side

this is a much better picture !

the nose & front wing look about the same height in this picture, what is amazing though is how low Button is compared to Vettel, considering Button is taller !

[pete555]

The advertising board grows when the red bull passes too .
The zoom must be different or picture taken closer in.
I don't think you can attribute any accuracy in dimension using the slider.

[bot6]

Like Pete said.

[Mchamilton]

The advertising board grows when the red bull passes too .
The zoom must be different or picture taken closer in.
I don't think you can attribute any accuracy in dimension using the slider.

i think you'll find wheel rims are fixed size and the rear wheels match perfectly