nose cone

[Mikacouli]

It's a whole other nose cone than the nose cone off the Ferrari. I don't see a resemblance

I would prefer to say that it's a revolution. not an evolution!!

[Guest]

Just wondering. Wasn't the McLaren Silverstone test supposed to be for three days. I haven't been able to find any times for Thursday though. Was Thursday washed out or was it just a two day test.

Any info will be appreciated. Thanks.

It was a planned 2-days test, where both Coulthard and Raikkonen tried the 'new nosecone', and on BOTH days.

[sharkie17]

It's a whole other nose cone than the nose cone off the Ferrari. I don't see a resemblance

I would prefer to say that it's a revolution. not an evolution!!

i would have to disagree... i think it was an evolutionary step...

Williams' double keel design would be "revolutionary".

[Irvingthien]

Does anyone thinks that the new nose cone willmake its debut in Germany??I think it's highly unlikely.Given that the test on Silverstone was on wet and only debuted in the last day of testing.

Opinions please.

[bernard]

I think it will appear in Germany. In an interview today Ron Dennis said they will challenge ferrari for the win seriously, thanks to their big new aerodynamic improvements. They haven't been testing any other major aerodynamic parts, so I'd say the nose is what Dennis was talking about.
Anyway, I don't think they'd waste another race like they did with bringing Mp4-19b out. I'm sure Whitmarsh has had a good talking to about the decision to delay it's debut from Indy to France, while Dennis wanted the car in Indy.

[Guest]

...the new nose cone willmake its debut in Germany??I think it's highly unlikely.Given that the test on Silverstone was on wet and only debuted in the last day of testing.

It 'debuted' on the first day of testing, AND ran on the second day as well-when it rained partially. The nose cone was also run on the MP4-19A in Jerez.

[Bharath]

I don't know how many of you read http://www.itv-f1.com but they say that McLaren is going to use the old nose cone at Hockenheim.

Guessed as much what with rain during the Silverstone test. Besides from the pics of the Silverstone test on xpb.cc it doen't seem like Coulthard tried the new nose. Only Kimi and they have pics only from the second day of the test. So not sure about the first day. But that might just be photographers who don't do a good job.

[Bharath]

Sorry I got one thing wrong in the previous post. xpb.cc has pictures of just the first day of testing at Silverstone (the 13th). So no pics of the 14th.

Also I was browsing through pictures that http://www.f1racing.net has put up on their website. No pics of the new nose at Jerez.

[dcdabest]

After some examination of web-sites (they are always so misleading!), and wading through the teams' apparently-conflicting statements this seems to be the situation:

For the testing week immediately after the Silverstone grandprix, setup work for Hockenheim was performed at Jerez with the old MP4-19A. This was probably so that noone can see how BLAZINGLY FAST the B-Spec car is (hehe atleast I hope).

At Sivlerstone, the first day of testing concentrated on developments FOR Hockenheim. The second day was intended for the testing of components they will bring to future races (because of the testing ban) which included the ugly (IMO ) new nose cone.

So hopefully we will still see a big development step of McLaren at Hockenhei,, just not the big new nose...

[tetopelis]

hmmm..seems like mclaren isin't using their new nose...i think they were not confident enough with it cos they lacked track time with it during the test.but can anyone spot wat aero changes they have done?...are they using the big ass chimnies for the exhos?

[bernard]

I think Mclaren should have brought their new nose to the German GP, if only to test it for a few laps. The reason it didn't appear there was because they hadn't tested it properly. Ok. They are going to have to bring it to the track without testing anyway, unless they are planning to postpone it's test till september's monza tests, which is unlikely, so they might as well bring it out early. Other teams are taking steps forward all the time, they can't afford to rest, thinking they now have achieved the pace needed to win races. They need to go forward in every race. Germany didn't see any new aero, despite Dennis' talks of major new aerodynamics. This makes you think whether the decision to keep it under covers was once again made by Whitmarsh, the overcautious woman. You have to bring it to the track without testin anyway, so might as well do it early. Mclaren can't afford to remain still. Test ban or not.

[Reca]

This makes you think whether the decision to keep it under covers was once again made by Whitmarsh, the overcautious woman.

There are several possibilities actually.
The first one is that the first results of the test weren’t as good as they expected and so they preferred to stick with the old design. (unlikely but it’s a possibility)
Then the are the logistical ones.
Maybe they were short in spare parts, a front wing rupture could be a quite frequent event in the weekend (and the last weekend demonstrated it) and I don’t think you could use with the same general car setup two totally different nosecones so they would have been forced to race with the old one anyway.
Then a new nose does require a new FIA crash test (and a destructive one) before to be used in Events. The 19B chassis already required new tests and surely they used the old nose otherwise the car wouldn’t have raced so far, but I don’t know if they already used also the new nosecone, maybe they preferred not to just in case of further modifications required after the on track test and then they were simply unable to do it in the days before the race.

[bernard]

Then a new nose does require a new FIA crash test (and a destructive one) before to be used in Events.

Are you sure about that? Changes to the monocoque require a crashtest, as this is the main crash element, but i don't think the nose does. It's not the same kind of crash structure as the monocoque. Of course, if you have information supporting the crashtest theory, post it.
Here is an inside image of a mclaren nose(not the new one)
courtesy of ScarbsF1.com

[Reca]

Of course, if you have information supporting the crashtest theory, post it.

FIA Technical Rules.

[bernard]

well that's nice, but could you be a little more precise?