Vodafone McLaren MP4-27 Mercedes

[gray41]

If the hole isn't part of a duct system what else could it be there for?

[ajdavison2]

What hole are we talking about here?

[gray41]

What hole are we talking about here?

http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/2765/90739729.jpg


also different angle

http://f1zoom.co.cc/?year=2012&race=cat ... =49&full=1


not the illusion in the pillar but the hole in the flow-fiz

[ajdavison2]

I'm not even convinced it's a hole, I think it could be a piece of carbon? just part of the construction?

[gray41]

I'm not even convinced it's a hole, I think it could be a piece of carbon? just part of the construction?

But it doesn't appear in any other photos apart from the flow-fized wing Jenson ran in the morning, wouldn't the paint not cover the carbon like the other areas of the wing it has covered?

[Ratatouille]

You can even see the channel(mini duct) right after the hole.

[ianwit]

Perhaps its a mounting point for the test rig?

[NoDivergence]

These all must be holes, then, for the duct.

Notice, all these "marks" show on the carbon side and leading edge of the surfaces

[Pup]

Surely the most impressive thing about these ducts is how they disappear when looked at from a different angle...

[strad]

Brian,,I guess that clears it up,,,they must have caught on at some point..Crossthreading used to be a huge problem and why you used to see them start the first turns by hand..they would have the nut in the gun but turn the socket part by hand..and the last time I watched Le Mans and sports racing they still did...guess we both learned something.
BTW..Thanks for the PDFs,,as you can imagine it's some thick wading for me..but helpful.

[ianwit]

Theory goes (not mine) that the wing covered in flow-vis was sent back to the factory for assessment and replaced with a new or different one! Its impossible to say really but something has to occupy us all for the next 10 days

[feynman]

Surely the most impressive thing about these ducts is how they disappear when looked at from a different angle...

Err, photographs of two different wings.
For a couple of days they ran a wing which was widely photographed with no ducts, Button ran a blue flow-viz'd wing for a few laps that has been photographed from numerous angles as looking to be ducted, and then for a day and a half they ran the original wing with no ducting visible.

It's only quarter turn bolts which secure nose assemblies, McLaren mechanics are competent enough to figure out how to unbolt one and try a development part for an engineering work in progress.


Now whether this is a front wing f-duct or not is clearly not able to be ascertained at this time. And even if it is, how far developed the concept may or may not be, or even if the concept actually works is completely unknown.

But just because the FIA add rules about closed surfaces on rear wing elements, to think all team suddenly forgot all they learned about adaptive aerodynamics seems utterly unlikely to me.
Use two side ducts to detect yaw and use the output of that pneumatic circuit to fluidically switch on or off front wing elements. It seems at least likely to me that someone would stick such a wing on for a few laps and see what happens.

Now if we get better photography, and it turns out to be stray electrical tape, so be it, but right now, all the photos I've seen of it, it looks like that blue wing is ducted ... so that's what I'll put my money on for now.

[burlyman]

Interesting comparison between the FW Jenson ran on Day 3 and the FW Lewis used on Day 4.

[allstaruk08]

looks like the same wing to me, or am i being blind?

[JackHammer]

Only difference I can see is the flo-viz paint