Vodafone McLaren MP4-27 Mercedes

[simieski]

As Holm said, it's just a cradle supporting blowers for cooling the brakes

[Crucial_Xtreme]

What sensor?? All i can see is the brake duct coolers.

Yeah seems you're right. I got the picture & the idea it was a sensor for FW from RaceCar Engineering. Didn't pay too much attention. Dummy me.

http://www.racecar-engineering.com/cars/mclaren-mp4-27/

[PlatinumZealot]

Rear view mirrors location designed by Hamilton.. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/17311228

His engineers didn't want to change the position due to performance concerns but Hamilton insisted, turned out the new position had a neutral effect.

Much much closer to the steering wheel, and very high and angled.

http://www.racecar-engineering.com/wp-c ... pmacca.jpg

[MIKEY_!]

Hopefully that means less crashing into Massa this season

[raymondu999]

Rear view mirrors location designed by Hamilton.. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/17311228

His engineers didn't want to change the position due to performance concerns but Hamilton insisted, turned out the new position had a neutral effect.

For those who can't see the video, here:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dx9JowQZrfw[/youtube]

I was quite surprised to be honest. I thought McLaren just copied the RB7 mirrors - which these resemble a lot. But if the engineers didn't bother to test before saying it was a bad design - you sort of have to wonder whether there is an ethos of having preconceived assumptions of what are bad designs and not worth testing - without actually testing them

[Tim.Wright]

Hadn't seen this picture of the FW sensor at Barcelona.

[img]http://www.racecar-engineering.com/wp-c ... u1.jpg[img]

They are coffee machines. Buttons for on/off and espresso/lungho

Tim

[CHT]

Hadn't seen this picture of the FW sensor at Barcelona.

[img]http://www.racecar-engineering.com/wp-c ... u1.jpg[img]

Looks like it was used before they fitted the new section under the nose.

it this some sort of wing flex measurement sensor?

[myurr]

Hadn't seen this picture of the FW sensor at Barcelona.

Looks like it was used before they fitted the new section under the nose.

it this some sort of wing flex measurement sensor?

Aren't they just fans for blowing the brake ducts?

[amouzouris]

yep that's what they are

[Pierce89]

keep this crap out of the car threads people! [-o<

[Mandrake]

Rear view mirrors location designed by Hamilton.. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/17311228

His engineers didn't want to change the position due to performance concerns but Hamilton insisted, turned out the new position had a neutral effect.

Much much closer to the steering wheel, and very high and angled.

http://www.racecar-engineering.com/wp-c ... pmacca.jpg

The neutral effect has surely been calculated upon the loss in performance after running into other cars. Slightly worse aero outweighed by less crashes

[ianwit]

If memory serves me right Hamilton only had one mirrors issue in Japan, the other issues were down to other peoples mirrors or one in particular.

[Owen.C93]

Regarding the neutral mirrors I think this helps show what they've done.

[raymondu999]

Can we really see where the mirror affects the flow though?

[scarlet]

All the picture shows is that the mirrors are high enough to avoid disturbing the air passing beside the nosecone and around/beneath the sidepods - as no flow vis appears on them. What's less clear is any effect further back on top of the sidepods, although I guess this is less important for aerodynamics anyway.