McLaren MP4-26 Mercedes

[ianwit]

I can see how you could interpret it as a tube with the opening cut off at an angle but I think its light from the rear reflecting off the flat floor.

[i70q7m7ghw]

I think your just seeing the floor curving up before where the rear tyre would normally be...

[bonjon1979]

I think your just seeing the floor curving up before where the rear tyre would normally be...

Okay, if that's the case then I'm at a loss as to what that black pipe from sidepod to floor is.

[dren]

It looks like the exhaust will link up with the black pipe bend. This blows into the area below the silver heat shielding and above the floor, then out the back. It is like a double floor in a way, where the exhaust blows between the two. I assume there are channels in this area to direct the flow of gasses.

Either that or it is just like the Red Bull and Ferrari designs, a flat exhaust extension.

[ringo]

With none of the pipework there it's hard to tell, but there's a bump at the back of the side pod that wasn't there before, and a turning vein similar to red bull's behind it – could this be the new exhaust?

seems that bump was always there.

[beelsebob]

Pretty sure you're seeing an odd reflection there ringo...



Certainly doesn't seem to be there on the revealed car (not that that says much about whether it was there at the first test)

[ringo]

This might sound unlikely but could it be possible that mclaren mixed up the changes for 2012 with the 2011 rules?
The section A-A, ie the front face of the safety cell without the nose, can be as high as 625mm. However it seems mclaren's is at 550mm, which is mandated for 2012.
550 is at the level of the entry template of the cockpit opening.

A possible mix up in the design department?

[thestig84]

Seriously!?!? You think they are a couple guys in a shed with the rules on a napkin?

Im quite sure the design guys in all the teams know the rules inside out, how do you think they find loopholes...not through guess work. I can see you point about the nose but its clearly a design direction consciously chosen by the team.

[Lindz]

For better or worse, the MP4-26 doesn't rely on a lot of air flowing under the nose. I personally don't think the direction they chose to go with this car is what I would have done, but it makes sense that the nose would stay relatively 'flat'. They are trying to feed the rear elements from air over the top of the car. If they had a high nose, they'd have to do something with all that air under there.

On the Ferrari, for example, it is routed around the bottom undercut of the sidepods and out over the floor/diffuser. McLaren have almost no undercut and very long sidepods, so what would the benefit of a high nose bring them?

[f1rules]

exhaust
http://www.sutton-images.com/preview.as ... aus451.jpg

[bonjon1979]

exhaust
http://www.sutton-images.com/preview.as ... aus451.jpg

So it looks like the exhaust is curving down into that area I mentioned in an earlier post, not unlike red bull and ferrari.

[ianwit]

And the bump circled in red in the picture on this page is not on the other side, asymmetry at last

[i70q7m7ghw]

This might sound unlikely but could it be possible that mclaren mixed up the changes for 2012 with the 2011 rules?
The section A-A, ie the front face of the safety cell without the nose, can be as high as 625mm. However it seems mclaren's is at 550mm, which is mandated for 2012.
550 is at the level of the entry template of the cockpit opening.

A possible mix up in the design department?

No. A high nose is not the only way to build an F1 car. McLaren clearly aren't following the trend, I think that's pretty obvious.

[Raptor22]

This might sound unlikely but could it be possible that mclaren mixed up the changes for 2012 with the 2011 rules?
The section A-A, ie the front face of the safety cell without the nose, can be as high as 625mm. However it seems mclaren's is at 550mm, which is mandated for 2012.
550 is at the level of the entry template of the cockpit opening.

A possible mix up in the design department?

No. A high nose is not the only way to build an F1 car. McLaren clearly aren't following the trend, I think that's pretty obvious.

+1

many ways to skin the cat

[madly]