Vodafone McLaren MP4-27 Mercedes

[hollowBallistix]

So, has anyone seen any pictures of the fabled front wing "W" duct which McLaren are reported to have run yesterday?

Sorry if Pup has already posted links to such pictures, NOD32 won't let me see his links.

Thanks guys!

Yes, I believe the inlets are on the front wing pylon uprights. I've no idea of the trap speeds from yesterday though.

There are no inlets on the pylons, it's just reflections in the silver paintwork

All the photo's from the past two days testing have had no opening in the nose either, so I doubt there's any F-Duct front wing, i'd imagine McLaren would have further developed those flexible pylons they demonstrated last year.

[Pup]

The W duct is a myth. One that just won't die, thanks to Richard's distaste for sarcasm, which unfortunately prevents us from employing the level of humiliation necessary to kill the thing off for good.

[Poleman]

Hello gentlemen!The time has come for another season in the forum.First post for 2012, been reading since the launch of the cars and i am looking forward for the season to kick off in a few days.

As for the MP4-27 the car,she is a total looker and some hi-res pics are already decorating my desktop.Back to the topic though:

I am pleased to see Macca tidy up their rear and sidepods.It now looks as theres a nice clean path from the top and around them.That could help the airflow towards the back.

Also my opinion for the front wing is that there is nothing fishy there like ducts of any sort.All we see is the cascade reflection me thinks.

Wishes for a good and fun season and a constructive year in the forums to everyone.

[Pup]

OK, OK - I added a warning to the post, but I don't think there's anything really wrong with the site since we've been using photos hosted from there for weeks.

If you like, I could add the IMG tag to each of the photos, as that seems to resolve the issue, but I didn't want to muck up an entire page with them, since they're so awesomely big.

Nice detail shot of the front wing endplates...

NOD32 qualify your links as dangerous.

Me too.

[Pup]

Here are a couple of the better ones. Right click for full enjoyment...

Front wing...


Rear strakes...


Beauty shot...

[Giblet]

Deleted Mac talk. Yes they are both shiny. Yes they are both expensive. Yes they both are the best .

Not the place to discuss it though.

[strad]

I wish one of you would tell me the answer to the question I posed earlier..
Why don't they cut racing wheel studs and in this case spindles with what's called a Higbee thread. It is a way of finishing off the last thread so that it cannot crossthread when the nut is started. It's standard on all US fire hydrants .

[Pup]

I don't know the answer strad, but if I had to guess, I'd say that the guns they use are probably powerful enough to cross thread the nut higbee or not.

[PhillipM]

What makes you think they don't?

[strad]

Well I thought they might have caught on but then there was a race where they cross threaded a wheel nut..I forget which team..and then it came up on a technical show on TV about NASCAR and a sports series where there were crossthread problems..
I guess it's also called a Blunt start"

Blunt start" designates the removal of the incomplete thread at the starting end of the thread. This is a feature of threaded parts that are repeatedly assembled by hand, such as hose couplings and thread plug gages, to prevent cutting of hands and crossing of threads. It was formerly known as a Higbee cut.

EDIT...Maybe they do and they crossthread anyway..Maybe they do and the guns are strong enough to ram the nut home anyway..just don't try to get it off.

[hardingfv32]

I just checked out the tread of my F1 front spindle and the spindle in a rear upright. Both have a Higbee or Blunt start thread. The first thread has a 45 deg pointed/wedge shaped ramp at the start of the thread. These units 6-10 years old.

Thanks strad, I learned something today.

Brian

[Crucial_Xtreme]

I remember seeing this being mentioned during live timing but never saw a picture of the blue flo-vis until now.

[raymondu999]

Didn'tMcLaren do 3 colors earlier in this thread? Red Green and Blue?

[Shakeman]

That little hole that's at the base of the middle upright is not a reflection after all.

Bound to stoke more rumours of front wing blowing!

[gray41]

There is clearly a hole in the wing but not in the support pillar.

Little theory that Jenson only did one or two laps with the holed wing covered in flow-viz then it was packed away and sent back to MTC hence there not being many photos of the hole apart from that morning.