McLaren MP4-31 Honda

[andone89]

Is it just me or does the MP4-31 sound much better than other cars? Finally we have some Formual 1 sound back!

[namao]

Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1'23"022 Soft
Fernando Alonso McLaren 1'24"735 Soft

1.7s of Rosberg's time. Optimistic?

[GoranF1]

Before season started i hoped for 1.5 off in AUS and 0.7 off in AD....so a solid start.

[cliffgamerz]

I am a bit more optimistic about pace, so i will say they will be around 0.7 at the start of the season and may end up at 0.5s by the start of European rounds.

[ollandos]

any news aboyt speed traps?

[bhall II]

By request...

I could be wrong here, but I tend to think the new sidepod profile signifies the adoption of Ferrari's "winged" cooling configuration. (Ignore the green boxes.)

If so, it allows the radiators to be oriented in a more horizontal position (better packaging), and it doesn't require much open bodywork at the rear of the car (better aero efficiency).

(I think) Red Bull did it last year...



...and retained it this year:

[PlatinumZealot]

Best to wait than speculate I say. Sure enough there will be photos of the engine cover removed.

[adrianjordan]

The MP4-31 seems to have an engine cover that stays horizontal at the top for longer than any of the other cars....that is to say it starts to slope down further rearwards....is there any aerodynamic significance to this?

[Abarth]

[...] Power units have certain cooling requirements that are non-negotiable, and increasing their power output increases those requirements[...].

Not necessarily, indeed for the ICE it should be the other way around.
At full power, 100kg/h or 28g/s are the maximum that can be burnt, and I suppose any engine will be able to do so.
As this is a fuel limited formula, you need to convert as much energy of the (same) fuel amount into pressure, increasing mean effective pressure.
This also means that you have to try to avoid as much as possible that heat is transferred to cylinder walls, pistons and combustion chamber. As in other threads already mentioned, this is mainly done with excess air, very well managed injection spray and optimized turbulence inside the cylinder.
The higher the mechanical output power of the ICE, the lower the required cooling power.

The electrical machines are more dependant of the harvesting with MGU-H. Here, at constant ICE power, the lower the exhaust temperature (at same mass flow), the more power or better mean power (=energy) goes in MGU-H and therefore in ES and MGU-K.

[trinidefender]

[...] Power units have certain cooling requirements that are non-negotiable, and increasing their power output increases those requirements[...].

Not necessarily, indeed for the ICE it should be the other way around.
At full power, 100kg/h or 28g/s are the maximum that can be burnt, and I suppose any engine will be able to do so.
As this is a fuel limited formula, you need to convert as much energy of the (same) fuel amount into pressure, increasing mean effective pressure.
This also means that you have to try to avoid as much as possible that heat is transferred to cylinder walls, pistons and combustion chamber. As in other threads already mentioned, this is mainly done with excess air, very well managed injection spray and optimized turbulence inside the cylinder.
The higher the mechanical output power of the ICE, the lower the required cooling power.

The electrical machines are more dependant of the harvesting with MGU-H. Here, at constant ICE power, the lower the exhaust temperature (at same mass flow), the more power or better mean power (=energy) goes in MGU-H and therefore in ES and MGU-K.

It depends on the combustion really. Increasing ICE power can result in either an increase or decrease in cooling requirements all depending on how the power increase is achieved.

- if a new fuel is used then this new fuel will probably contain more energy, more energy means more heat = higher cooling requirements
- if it is a result of new combustion chamber coatings that reduce heat transfer then yes cooling requirements will go down.
- if it is a result of increased cyclinder pressure then that will result in a higher temperature and more heat transfer so higher cooling requirements
- more efficient compressor and/or lower back pressure then there will be lower cooling requirements.
- lower friction mechanical components = lower cooling requirements
- stratified combustion or combustion where the centre of combustion chamber is closer to stoiciometric but near the walls is very lean = lower cooling requirements.

There are countless other factors that play an influence in cooling requirements.

[horse]

Stoichiometric or Theoretical Combustion is the ideal combustion process where fuel is burned completely.

The Engineering ToolBox

[Fer.Fan]

Still down by 11kph
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CcTXk7rWoAAmYHp.jpg:large

Good information!

But we don`t know down force level of any car, how much FW and RW teams are running.

[bhall II]

In context, my thinking was that a power unit that's able to deploy ERS for longer periods - like this year's Honda - will have greater cooling requirements than one that's only able to deploy ERS for shorter periods - like last year's Honda. (I think. I've not paid close attention to McHonda's progress.)

The MP4-31 seems to have an engine cover that stays horizontal at the top for longer than any of the other cars....that is to say it starts to slope down further rearwards....is there any aerodynamic significance to this?

I'm not sure there's an answer to this question that's correct all the time. So, I'll just say this: curved surfaces cause attached air flow to accelerate, which increases the stream's dynamic pressure. Since total pressure at any given location is constant, higher dynamic pressure means lower static pressure. If such a curved surface is facing up toward the heavens, lower static pressure equals lift.

Make of that what you will.

[PhillipM]

Yes, as stated before, under this formula the engines making the most power are doing so because they're more efficient with their heat loss, so they not only have more power, they might have the same or fewer cooling requirements, it's a double whammy of both power and aero gain.

[namao]

McLaren had not run its high-downforce aero package yet.

"We also haven't run the car in its proper downforce settings. We've ran low downforce because we don't have the wings yet. I could probably tell you a lot more tomorrow when I'm at the circuit." - Jenson Button (01/03/2016)