McLaren MP4-27 Mercedes (pre-launch speculation)

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beelsebob
beelsebob
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Re: McLaren MP4-27 Mercedes

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Random guess at next years car: The McLaren currently has pretty much the largest gearbox of any car in the field. It also has suffered several failures this year. The implication would be that this would be one of McLaren's major focuses for next year. Will we see a williams style gearbox from them?

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raymondu999
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Re: McLaren MP4-27 Mercedes

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Sam Michael is already there - he'd probably bring some insight on the device
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Richard
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Re: McLaren MP4-27 Mercedes

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Some say the gearbox was pushed up to make room for the exhaust system that was embedded in the floor with those slot openings in the floor edge. Then Newey showed that slapping an exhaust pipe on top of the floor was much more effective than complex routing of the exhaust under the gearbox and feeding narrow slots. I'm sure the gearbox will drop down next season.

In hindsight McLaren had similar thinking to Renault in how they intended to use jets in the edge of the floor. Fortunately for them the jets were at the rear so they were able to revert to the RB method without too much difficulty.

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aleks_ader
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Re: McLaren MP4-27 Mercedes

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raymondu999 wrote:Sam Michael is already there - he'd probably bring some insight on the device
Jep good point! That is possible! Nice trick from Mclaren!
"And if you no longer go for a gap that exists, you're no longer a racing driver..." Ayrton Senna

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Javert
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Re: McLaren MP4-27 Mercedes

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LONDON: McLaren's Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton hope, and expect, to be fast from the first lap of next season's Formula One world championship in a bid to stop Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull reeling off a hat-trick of title triumphs.
The title-winning duo of 2008 and 2009 will fly into Sao Paulo for next weekend's season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix hoping, also, to end 2011 in a blaze of glory, but their real goal is to take over at the top again next year.
And this week the British pairing received a boost to their ambitions when McLaren's team chiefs stressed that it was vital for them to begin the new season as they were ending the old.
Hamilton won last weekend's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to record this third win of the year while Button has only failed to finish in a podium position once in the last eight races.
This run of consistency and speed has left the team happy with their developments, but frustrated at being unable to mount a serious bid to stop Vettel and Red Bull's march to glory.
As a result, McLaren have made clear that their focus is on starting the next season much faster than they have done recent ones.
Racing chief Jonathan Neale said: "We need to start next year quick. We're showing that we can out-develop and stay close to everybody.
"We've consistently won races, we're consistently on the podium, but we don't win championships enough and that's a frustration."
The team believe their 2012 hopes depend on their ability to design a car which is fast from the outset.
Struggles in pre-season testing this year highlighted a clear disparity between McLaren's MP4-26 and Red Bull's RB7, but McLaren steadily reduced that deficit as the season progressed.
Neale added: "We love winning races, but we want to win some more championships. We've got to get out of the blocks."
He explained that only six percent of the 2011 car will be re-used in the design for the 2012 machine.
Neale said: "We're running a high-speed research and development organisation, but it's up to us to give the drivers something they can really get hold of and exploit.
"And I think Lewis and Jenson, as back- to- back word champions, deserve the best. So that's a clear target."
Team chief Martin Whitmarsh said: "It really is a team effort. There are hundreds of people here who enjoy these victories and contribute to them. Great drivers need great cars and that's what we are here to develop and supply for them."
Is there really space for something radical like the things discussed here? :D

Very different thoughts from the one that Hamilton expressed earlier this season
Evolution key to Red Bull's success - Hamilton

... In that same design it's just evolved, so it's got better and better and better. We had a terrible car in 2009 and we scrapped that car. We built a new car in 2010 and we scrapped that car. We built a new car in 2011 and I think we're going to have a similar car for next year so it should be closer.
... He also admitted that McLaren has become too dependent on its exhaust-blown diffuser for downforce and that it would have to increase the overall downforce before next year when the FIA will effectively outlaw the technology.
"I think if we all took our exhausts away you would see the Red Bull remain at the top and the others lose a lot more," Hamilton said. "Talking about the fundamentals of my car, it's not as if I'm massively happy with it. I think as a team we know that we need to improve it and that's what we're working on. We're working on the basic downforce rather than what's coming out of the exhaust."

astracrazy
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Re: McLaren MP4-27 Mercedes

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Javert wrote:
The team believe their 2012 hopes depend on their ability to design a car which is fast from the outset.
Struggles in pre-season testing this year highlighted a clear disparity between McLaren's MP4-26 and Red Bull's RB7, but McLaren steadily reduced that deficit as the season progressed.
Neale added: "We love winning races, but we want to win some more championships. We've got to get out of the blocks."
In that same design it's just evolved, so it's got better and better and better. We had a terrible car in 2009 and we scrapped that car. We built a new car in 2010 and we scrapped that car.
and now there scrapping 94% of the 2011 car.

Is there not a recurring patten here....

beelsebob
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Re: McLaren MP4-27 Mercedes

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astracrazy wrote:and now there scrapping 94% of the 2011 car.

Is there not a recurring patten here....
94% of the parts not being the same, and not being based on the same design idea/being an evolution are entirely compatible ideas.

Richard
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Re: McLaren MP4-27 Mercedes

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The "only 6% carried over statement" will be a PR thing to demonstrate radical forward thinking for the sponsors to massage their ego.

What it means in reality is that only 6% of the parts from the 26 can be bolted directly onto the 27. So any part changing by even 1 or 2mm will fall into the "new category".

They'll have changed the geometry of the bodywork to accommodate the regs on the exhaust, nose, & diffuser. They'd tweak the body work even if the rules remained exactly the same. So that's every bit of bodywork declared as "new" even if it looks identical to you and me.

Those changes will also will relocate the suspension mountings - even if it is just a 10mm change in mounting position, it would impact on every suspension component, hence that's all new.

The new exhaust will require repackaging of the engine bay and side pods.

It is likely the brake disc manufacturer will have tweaked their configuration, so that leads to a new brake assembly.

The difficulty is in finding parts that would not be "new". Perhaps the actual switch gear in the steering wheel .... errr.... it's hard to think of anything else.

timbo
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Re: McLaren MP4-27 Mercedes

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Yep, does not mean much.
If you look at F150, bashed for playing safe too-much, it probably carried over only front wing from F10, and only in the winter tests.

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MIKEY_!
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Re: McLaren MP4-27 Mercedes

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Yes the engine is pretty much the only main constant. But then they still have minor tweaks for 'reliability' don't they.

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raymondu999
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shelly wrote:I am not referring to the mirrors. I think there is one of the four crash structures inside the sidepod lip.
Well I'll be damned... :lol:
Image
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shelly
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Re: McLaren MP4-27 Mercedes

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Nice shot! I think that we are seeing the two crash structures there, but I missed the plot about why their length can be that different. IIRC in the past they were more ore less equal length.

it would be nice to see a similar shot for the mp4-26, to see the crash tubes layout with the upods. I think that there are a few surprises in there.
twitter: @armchair_aero

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Javert
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Re: McLaren MP4-27 Mercedes

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“I think we had a shocking winter [last year]; it was probably one of the worst winters we’ve had,” Whitmarsh said.
“The fact is we were no where near competitive and had not done a race distance before we finished the Australian Grand Prix, and that’s not how you should be able to start a season.
“I think we’ve taken some decisions; hopefully we’ve taken some learning from that.
“And it’s a balance – we were taking some non-productive risks in my opinion last year and it’s easy for me in hindsight to step back, and I got reasonably involved myself at the end of it.

“But we’ve got some very clever, creative people, if I go around saying ‘don’t take risk’ I think I’d be stifling to people who are much cleverer than me and much more creative and inventive.
“The problem is we like to be clever, we like to be inventive, the bit of the risk is part of what we’re in this sport for. So it’s an interesting balance but I think at the moment inevitably when you’re reviewing what’s going on you say ‘yeah, that’s good, that’s good – hold on guys that’s got shades of what I’ve seen before, we’re not doing that are we?’
Little more conservative approach? :mrgreen:

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FrukostScones
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Re: McLaren MP4-27 Mercedes

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Javert wrote:
“I think we had a shocking winter [last year]; it was probably one of the worst winters we’ve had,” Whitmarsh said.
“The fact is we were no where near competitive and had not done a race distance before we finished the Australian Grand Prix, and that’s not how you should be able to start a season.
“I think we’ve taken some decisions; hopefully we’ve taken some learning from that.
“And it’s a balance – we were taking some non-productive risks in my opinion last year and it’s easy for me in hindsight to step back, and I got reasonably involved myself at the end of it.

“But we’ve got some very clever, creative people, if I go around saying ‘don’t take risk’ I think I’d be stifling to people who are much cleverer than me and much more creative and inventive.
“The problem is we like to be clever, we like to be inventive, the bit of the risk is part of what we’re in this sport for. So it’s an interesting balance but I think at the moment inevitably when you’re reviewing what’s going on you say ‘yeah, that’s good, that’s good – hold on guys that’s got shades of what I’ve seen before, we’re not doing that are we?’
Little more conservative approach? :mrgreen:
sounds like bold approach to me, what is the source?
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raymondu999
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