McLaren MP4-29 Mercedes

[shady]

It would essentially be an upper deck to the diffuser itself. The waste heat is ancillary but it wouldnt be 'blocked' like it is in the Dragonfly implementation seen at Jerez.

since the upper arm needs to be 5* of the reference plane, that would probably determine the height of the strakes on the lower arm in this implementation...

[eslam1986]

Part 3 (of 4): Enrique Scalabroni details the McLaren MP4-29's rear suspension (geometry and structure implications)
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUhbGRzD ... e=youtu.be[/youtube]

[turbof1]

Part 3 (of 4): Enrique Scalabroni details the McLaren MP4-29's rear suspension (geometry and structure implications)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUhbGRzD ... e=youtu.be

That's awesome. So it's true: next to redesigning geometry and change in gearbox due different pickup points, you'd also need to redesign the rear crash structure if a team were to copy this solution. That's quite a huge investment.

[acosmichippo]

which would also lead you to believe mclaren wouldn't have committed to this design without pretty clear indication that it is legal.

[WillerZ]

The regs say the major axis has to be within 5° of the reference plain,

Yep.

which is horizontal.

Nope. The rake of the car tilts the reference plane relative to the ground and adds maybe 2º-4º to the AoA of basically everything on the car: including the suspension elements, "neutral" central front wing section & "neutral" camera pods.

OT:

It's actually a bit odd, semantically, for the suspension to be defined relative to the reference plane in this way: the reference plane exists because otherwise the angle (and thus legality) of parts attached to the sprung part of the car would vary as the fuel load/suspension setup was changed which would be a nightmare to comply with and a nightmare to police. Since the suspension arms are not (by definition) solely attached to the sprung part of the car, defining them in terms of the reference plane reintroduces this problem to some extent.

Back on topic:

The above off-topic excursion makes me think that a sensible team (as McLaren undoubtedly is) will not intentionally create a suspension system which is at peak effectiveness at 5º-to-reference-plane AoA: if you do that you are painting yourself into a corner in terms of setup.

[mclaren_mircea]

Don't read to much in W05 doing lots of laps. We remember Ferrari doing lots of laps in pre-testing in 2011 and 2012, and we saw their level of performance at the begining of the season. And I'm not talking about lap times, even if both Button and Magnussen topped easily the times. I'm speaking about Mp4-29's behaviour entering and leaving the corners.Like a doctor, here we can read the real diagnosis of the car at this stage of the season. Mclaren was the most stable car entering and leaving the corners, and seems by some margin to has the most downforce, compared to other cars (the comparison was with W05. On other sources where I found about another car's beahaviour was on BBC about Ferrari, which is struggling for rear downforce when is leaving the corners). The author of the article that Mp4-29 seems like on rails, and that is a comparison that always, but always I found about Red Bull cars in pre testing, even if they were always sandbagging.

Take a look

http://thejudge13.com/2014/01/30/f1-tes ... rez-day-3/

I had no 3G as I spent the afternoon around the back of the circuit and therefore was completely unaware of the lap times being set.
I have to say, the McLaren is looking by some margin the best balanced car. Having spent the day walking the circuit, whether in the hands of world champion Jenson Button or rookie Kevin Magnusson, the MP4-29 was cornering as though it was on rails.

[Anon123]

Any car could corner as if it was on rails if it is miles away from it's own limit, you used the example of Ferrari in 2011 and 2012 but mileage means a lot this year because we expect their to be many more engine/power unit problems than in previous years. Last year the Mclaren cornered as if it was on rails at Jerez and then we found they had made a huge setup blunder, having said that I think the car will be quick.

[zioture]

Today I was designed Mclaren rear, I noticed a strange thing about the Butterfly, only from one side.
Before it seemed like a reflex, but then 'I saw that the first black object has a thickness
What is it?

[Del Boy]

Don't read to much in W05 doing lots of laps. We remember Ferrari doing lots of laps in pre-testing in 2011 and 2012, and we saw their level of performance at the begining of the season. And I'm not talking about lap times, even if both Button and Magnussen topped easily the times. I'm speaking about Mp4-29's behaviour entering and leaving the corners.Like a doctor, here we can read the real diagnosis of the car at this stage of the season. Mclaren was the most stable car entering and leaving the corners, and seems by some margin to has the most downforce, compared to other cars (the comparison was with W05. On other sources where I found about another car's beahaviour was on BBC about Ferrari, which is struggling for rear downforce when is leaving the corners). The author of the article that Mp4-29 seems like on rails, and that is a comparison that always, but always I found about Red Bull cars in pre testing, even if they were always sandbagging.

Take a look

http://thejudge13.com/2014/01/30/f1-tes ... rez-day-3/

I had no 3G as I spent the afternoon around the back of the circuit and therefore was completely unaware of the lap times being set.
I have to say, the McLaren is looking by some margin the best balanced car. Having spent the day walking the circuit, whether in the hands of world champion Jenson Button or rookie Kevin Magnusson, the MP4-29 was cornering as though it was on rails.

Sorry slightly off topic
I have to agree with the article regarding getting a bet on. Before Jerez you could get 40-1 on Magnusson he's now 14-1. And Vettel's odds lengthening 6-5 before 7-4 after Jerez. If you look at the odds in general (bookies rarely get it wrong) Hamilton is second favourite, if the RB problems continue these odds will all change

[RZS10]

Today I was designed Mclaren rear, I noticed a strange thing about the Butterfly, only from one side.
Before it seemed like a reflex, but then 'I saw that the first black object has a thickness
What is it?

http://www.newsf1.it/wp-content/uploads ... ly_pic.jpg

*edit: yeah...not sensors or anything fancy - see below

[beelsebob]

It's black parts of the car and/or reflections, seen from behind the suspension, not parts of the suspension.

[RZS10]

It's black parts of the car and/or reflections, seen from behind the suspension, not parts of the suspension.

black reflections on matte black/grey-ish parts? or maybe lack of reflections/light on other parts causing darker spots?

not visible here and it is from the same set of pics:

[beelsebob]

It's black parts of the car and/or reflections, seen from behind the suspension, not parts of the suspension.

black reflections on matte black/grey-ish parts? or maybe lack of reflections/light on other parts causing darker spots?

No, not on matte black/greyish parts, on the chrome parts behind the matte black/greyish parts.

not visible here and it is from the same set of pics:

Exactly – that's because they don't exist, they're visible only from one angle, because you're seeing something behind the suspension.

[Pup]

It would essentially be an upper deck to the diffuser itself.

Unfortunately not. For it to be a working extension of the diffuser, it has to draw air from underneath the car.

[Huntresa]

It would essentially be an upper deck to the diffuser itself.

Unfortunately not. For it to be a working extension of the diffuser, it has to draw air from underneath the car.

Yeah and it does as Scarboni shows in his video.