McLaren MP4-29 Mercedes

[Lazy]

There are other factors as well, for example more df means higher exit speeds and therefore less fuel is needed for acceleration and acceleration is where most of the fuel is used...

No, you use the same fuel in acceleration than in the rest of the following straight. Acceleration is where the burnt fuel gives you the most lap time, though.

You are burning the same amount of fuel but you are covering a lot more ground. So you complete more of the lap for a given amount of fuel.

Therefore the faster your exit speed the less time you spend accelerating and the less fuel you need to complete your race distance.

[Richard]

Can we keep the circular arguments about legality in the other thread please? Then we can objectively talk in here about actual features of the car and how they work.

Legality thread http://www.f1technical.net/forum/viewto ... =6&t=17815

[Owen.C93]

Here's a pic that sheds some light on how the front wing is constructed.

[mclaren_mircea]

That's Kevin's front wing after his second crash with 10 minuted before the end of the test in Jerez.

[Owen.C93]

Yep.

[RZS10]

I that a compartment for ballast or is the wing just hollow in that middle area? And why are there wires/strings behind that hollow part?

[miguelalvesreis]

I that a compartment for ballast or is the wing just hollow in that middle area? And why are there wires/strings behind that hollow part?

Don't believe that they would put ballast there. It will be closed during production and is a not favorable place to put it. Ballast would go between the axles. The inertia (polar momentum) there would make the car prone to understeer. Besides that, ballast is probably something they will play with from race to race.

[OO7]

I that a compartment for ballast or is the wing just hollow in that middle area? And why are there wires/strings behind that hollow part?

Don't believe that they would put ballast there. It will be closed during production and is a not favorable place to put it. Ballast would go between the axles. The inertia (polar momentum) there would make the car prone to understeer. Besides that, ballast is probably something they will play with from race to race.

That is one of the areas ballast is placed.

[Pierce89]

There are other factors as well, for example more df means higher exit speeds and therefore less fuel is needed for acceleration and acceleration is where most of the fuel is used...

No, you use the same fuel in acceleration than in the rest of the following straight. Acceleration is where the burnt fuel gives you the most lap time, though.

You are burning the same amount of fuel but you are covering a lot more ground. So you complete more of the lap for a given amount of fuel.

Therefore the faster your exit speed the less time you spend accelerating and the less fuel you need to complete your race distance.

You are ignoring aero drag.

[thisisatest]

structural foam core(?) at the leading edge, hollow behind it. certainly could/would add the ballast there. lowest possible place, least amount of weight necessary for max weight distribution change.
carbon neutral certified sticker? what's up with that?

[Lazy]

No I'm not ignoring aero. If you're accelerating hard at low speed at 11000rpm you are using the same fuel as when you are maintaining high speed at 11000rpm. It makes no difference whether the resistance is drag or inertia, but at high speed your are covering more ground obviously.

[dave34m]

carbon neutral certified sticker? what's up with that?

If McLaren can't win the WDC or WCC they will at least try to save the planet.

[henra]

certainly could/would add the ballast there. lowest possible place, least amount of weight necessary for max weight distribution change.

Exactly.
This year this is an ideal spot for weight distribution since you want the minimum amount of ballast (since cars will be around min weight without any ballast) for max cg shift, and therefore at max distance from the cg.
In the past ballast was not only used to move cg front to rear but also to lower it. For the latter pupose a ballast between the axle is desirable. This year Teams won't have much room if any to play with ballast for vertical cg shift without compromising overall weight of the car. Therefore they will likely use any ballast for horizontal cg shift.

[rscsr]

No I'm not ignoring aero. If you're accelerating hard at low speed at 11000rpm you are using the same fuel as when you are maintaining high speed at 11000rpm. It makes no difference whether the resistance is drag or inertia, but at high speed your are covering more ground obviously.

But when accelerating, you're not steady at 11k rpm, you're only there momentarily before shifting up and the rpm's drop a few thousand, which would require less fuel, right?

If we assume a constant fuel consumption (g/kWh) and constant power (kW) and multiply both together ((g/kWh)*kW=g/h) we get the consumption per hour (g/h). So this consumption is constant, no matter for what the power is needed.

To get the consumption per km, we have to divide the consumption per hour by the speed ((g/h)/(km/h)=(g/h)*(h/km)=(g/km)).
So let's say we consume 1g/h fuel at a certain acceleration and at high speed.
while accelerating out of a slow corner (let's say at 50km/h momentarily) we get 1/50 g/km= 0.02g/km
while driving at speed (let's say at 200km/h momentarily) we get 1/200 g/km= 0.005g/km

So this shows at WOT high speed driving is more efficient than accelerating.

[acosmichippo]

No I'm not ignoring aero. If you're accelerating hard at low speed at 11000rpm you are using the same fuel as when you are maintaining high speed at 11000rpm. It makes no difference whether the resistance is drag or inertia, but at high speed your are covering more ground obviously.

But when accelerating, you're not steady at 11k rpm, you're only there momentarily before shifting up and the rpm's drop a few thousand, which would require less fuel, right?

If we assume a constant fuel consumption (g/kWh)...

But that was kind of my point. *Can* you assume constant fuel consumption while accelerating and shifting through gears?