Lotus E23 Mercedes Speculation Thread

[stefan_]

Total/Burn sponsorship missing from this years car?

Missing sponsors/partners from Lotus' E23: Burn, Unilever (Clear / Rexona), Total, Emaar, Magneti Marelli, Symantec, Avanade.

[zioture]

New intake lotus E23 look like old intake E22 tested in Germany FP1

[iotar__]

Total/Burn sponsorship missing from this years car?

Missing sponsors/partners from Lotus' E23: Burn, Unilever (Clear / Rexona), Total, Emaar, Magneti Marelli, Symantec, Avanade.

Also missing is Lopez and deputy Gastaldi . Amus corrected info about engines, 2015 spec for Jerez.

[dren]

Looks like a good car. I like how the nose looks, especially after last year's appalling twin tusks. Pull rod is a surprise, I just hope they ve got nothing fundamentally wrong with this car. Wonder how much they had to make changes at the rear because of the Merc PU.

Probably not as much as you'd think for a PU change. The mounts are all the same between PUs. The ES dimensions should be similar since those have regulated limits. The biggest change should be the exhaust and intake routing. That would tie more into the PU bodywork. The Mercedes PU probably allows more room at the rear over the transmission due to their turbo layout. Probably one of the reasons Lotus went with the coolers placed there-abouts.

[dren]

continuing to think about the shallow front push-rod angles and their high outboard mounting on corner between upper & lower wishbones...

I think it would be legal to run a corvette-type composite transverse leaf spring. Problem with that idea is that it doesn't explain how any damping would occur.

I'm going to guess the pushrods are acting on eachother through some hydraulic means.

[Vary]

Is it possible that mercedes forced Lotus to add "hybrid" to their car's name? Like the 2014 Mercedes W05 hybrid

[aral]

continuing to think about the shallow front push-rod angles and their high outboard mounting on corner between upper & lower wishbones...

I think it would be legal to run a corvette-type composite transverse leaf spring. Problem with that idea is that it doesn't explain how any damping would occur.

I'm going to guess the pushrods are acting on eachother through some hydraulic means.

i dont think that the top wishbone is lower than before, but if you compare the 22 and the 23, you will see that top of bodywork at the bulkhead is far higher than before. my first impression was that it has been raised so as to allow some trickery underneath?

[dren]

continuing to think about the shallow front push-rod angles and their high outboard mounting on corner between upper & lower wishbones...

I think it would be legal to run a corvette-type composite transverse leaf spring. Problem with that idea is that it doesn't explain how any damping would occur.

I'm going to guess the pushrods are acting on eachother through some hydraulic means.

i dont think that the top wishbone is lower than before, but if you compare the 22 and the 23, you will see that top of bodywork at the bulkhead is far higher than before. my first impression was that it has been raised so as to allow some trickery underneath?

I think it's mainly the position of the push rod. It enters the chassis a bit lower than it did last year. The A-arm mounts look to be in similar locations.

[Jonnycraig]

Total/Burn sponsorship missing from this years car?

Missing sponsors/partners from Lotus' E23: Burn, Unilever (Clear / Rexona), Total, Emaar, Magneti Marelli, Symantec, Avanade.

And more than a few worrying noises about PDVSA.

[dren]

Total/Burn sponsorship missing from this years car?

Missing sponsors/partners from Lotus' E23: Burn, Unilever (Clear / Rexona), Total, Emaar, Magneti Marelli, Symantec, Avanade.

And more than a few worrying noises about PDVSA.

Things sound fine from reading this:
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/117468

[ScottB]

Is it possible that mercedes forced Lotus to add "hybrid" to their car's name? Like the 2014 Mercedes W05 hybrid

Probably done themselves if they think It'll help their marketing. Williams, Force India and Mclaren didn't have 'Hybrid' in their car names last year, and the former two don't this year either.

[Morteza]

[Gridlock]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KyqtCyZtwM

For those without flash

Scarbs says the Germany test item was for an oil cooler.

[Godius]

The Force India of last year also had such inlets (albeit smaller and positioned more rearwards) near the roll hoop, it led air toward the Mercedes gearbox oil cooler. I don't know for sure about the Mercedes W05 but I can also remember them running the inlets near the roll hoop with the function to feed air to the mercedes gearbox oil cooler and other components.

What I'm trying to say it that there is a possibility that Lotus could run the Mercedes gearbox.

[Manoah2u]

The Force India of last year also had such inlets (albeit smaller and positioned more rearwards) near the roll hoop, it led air toward the Mercedes gearbox oil cooler. I don't know for sure about the Mercedes W05 but I can also remember them running the inlets near the roll hoop with the function to feed air to the mercedes gearbox oil cooler and other components.

What I'm trying to say it that there is a possibility that Lotus could run the Mercedes gearbox.

good point! one opening could be for the turbo, other could be for the gearbox. i guess that, if we get lucky enough to get such a view in the near future, we'll see it's function better when we get some pit-shots without the engine cover - though there is still the potent danger of the 'protected' covers like the ones ferrari ran with the F14T.