Vodafone McLaren MP4-27 Mercedes

[Tozza Mazza]

60mm. Unusual, as I thought most cars in 2011 had the front of tubs 150mm-ish IN FRONT of the front wheel centre. this is a 210mm backwards shift.

Yeah thats why I was critical to begin with, thats unusual, maybe they are shifting the C of G backwards to counteract some DF loss?

Think I have it.

I think Mclaren wheelbase is around 210mm longer this season...The new nose regulations may mean that they want more air under the nose?

Get where I'm going with this?

[PlatinumZealot]

I like the "butterfly side pods" taken from sauber f109

[ringo]

Meh.. close enough guess.

First im seeing the car, guess i got to read from the beginning.

[Forza]

Yes, the exhausts on McL are leagal by Scarbs. The Mclaren has neet design and the sape of engine cover is the consecuence of packaging thir internal components. The side pod areas has nice udercut probably to deal with some air vortexes. The design of front end is the way it is because they decided to have lower AA section and lower suspension mountings they also gaing a bit lower CofG. They develop brake ducts all the time so I won't comment on them much.

They have old snow plough front wing and the new one could be evolution of this because it's designed to work with lower nose. Although this was the show model in my opinion you can see that they get rid of some cooling intakes probably with repositioning of cooling vents for kers batteries and kers pcu in the sidepod intakes. The rear cooling vent is adjustable like some guys mentioned before and is pointed towards beam wing. The pull rod suspension has a different geometry from last year which is logical because they cleanned the area arround gearbox and crash structure and the exhaust system is diffrent from last year. Rear wing is evolution that seeks less drag for more downoforce. Tim Goss said they will test more exhaust solutions. I'm asking myself how much it can actually be gaind by blowing under rear wing at high speeds when exhaust gas flow mixes with general air floor (I'm saying this because some suggested that it could do this with this angle). The floor and diffussor of the is a mystery because this is only show car. Last year they had compromised rear end CofG because the original exhaust output was the "octopus". Scrabs mentioned that last year when cars were in parc ferme they all have the identical rake (rb,mcl,sf) so don't expect any gains on that one. The wheel base should be shorter but who can tell for sure only by pictures (even if you do some clever drawing using the tech rules and scales).

Button mentioned that they were good in slow corner last year and that the new car feels good at high speed corners in the simulator. They probably tried to improved mechanical grip and tyre wear but we don't know yet. All I'm reading on forums and sites are comments about aero shape and performance there are not so much to say about how good the car is mechanical and also nobody can say for sure where is the downoforce centre

When Caterham was out people were surprised because of their design path with nose and narrow sidepods but I just see it as consequence of their design philosophy. They are new team and have more to gain in this area (and they internal components are influenced by RB and Renault package).Mclaren is well established team with more experience so they have smaller gains visable at first sight but the stop watch will show if they improved the car and gain what was lost by ebd ban.

It's only my view based on what I have seen and read soo far

[horse]

the strakes at the bottom of the endplates to turn the flow out behind the rear wheels seem to be much more aggressive.

Could be part of the diffuser compensation package. Perhaps what works for the diffuser will also work for the beam wing, hence taking the strakes higher.

EDIT: From the 26 thread, and I think the last evolution of the wing:



EDIT2: For comparison taken from a lower page:

[ringo]

looking at the overhead pics, shes still got a fat arse. I don't know why they don't go for a tight rear end like red bull or caterham this year

That goes back to the engine. No car without a Renault engine will look like a redbull. The Mercedes is bigger dimensional wise.

[Lurk]

and followed up this with it's "not a winner."

Last time I read that it was about MP4-26. Well, 6 wins with a non-optimal concept and no flexi wings... I'll be happy if it's that kind of non winning car


Concerning the car itself, I think the "distant" exhausts causes the fatty look. If you erase them, this car should look tighter than any 2011 car. Chrome paint is also a little traitor to see the true proportions.

Let's wait the other cars and first tests to see if they did well. Just focus on what they trying to achieve for now.

[yace]

the mp4/27 is a mix of the 3 previous ones, the nose of the mp4/25, the sidepots too. global design of the mp4/26 and the rear wing of the mp4/24

[ringo]

This car is very refined. The silver colour is playing tricks with our eyes.
Take off the exhuast lumps and you see an attempt to have a redbull like sidepod with the widest part pushed forward. Also the waist is much narrower around the gearbox. The exhaust is to blame for blocking that.
We have ferrari style beam wing, and also much narrower A arms.

I like it. The nose was no suprise too. Last years nose was basically a 2012 nose.
This one has a bit more room underneath thanks to the curvature. The lack of V nose is also understandable. The flat bottom nose imo is better for the flow underneath.
Also where snow plow is concerned, the V nose is a mismatch.

There is one thing i have yet seen to be uncovered from the redbull. This car doesn't have it. It's close to it but it doesnt have. I'll wait on the ferrari then post it in the RB7 thread. The last secret.

[Shaddock]

I've photochopped the exhaust bulge off the 27.

In simple terms of exposed floor surface area, the 27 has the 26 and 25 easily beat. The 27's sidepod tapper starts earlier and is more pronounced.

The width (fatness) of the bodywork around the rear wheel centre line does show that the 27 is the slimest of McLearens recent cars.

Would be nice to see an overhead of last years RB and this years Caterham side by side.

Paddy Lowe said that the wheelbase is still the same as last year; so I think you have to rescale that....

Resized to the same wheelbase as the 26.

It ain't fat by McLarens standards!

[Owen.C93]

It ain't fat by McLarens standards!

Still not Red-Bull. Not to mention the 26 got significantly slimmer at the rear mid season.

[RB7ate9]

There is one thing i have yet seen to be uncovered from the redbull. This car doesn't have it. It's close to it but it doesnt have. I'll wait on the ferrari then post it in the RB7 thread. The last secret.

The anticipation is killing me !

Question: perhaps you can present some guess as to the point of the extension behind the snow-plow? That's been one of the curious bits to me.

[gold333]

It's pretty much last years car with normal sidepods no?

[manchild]

The only mystery is that thing between the wheels. Other than that car is not by my likeness. Racing cars shouldn't have big ratio between width and length, and some of the modern F1 cars like recent Mclarens and Ferraris are simply fugly.

[bhall]

[Comparison image]

Being able to see the cars evolve from scratch is almost worth the hideous proportions under the current formula.

Question: perhaps you can present some guess as to the point of the extension behind the snow-plow?

To me, the philosophy of this design is reminiscent of the noses found on the 2009-2010 Renaults. If that's the case, it's essentially a front-end diffuser.