McLaren MCL39

[SilviuAgo]

Courtesy This is Formula 1:

McLaren: The Secret to Tire Management Lies in the Hub

— McLaren has introduced an innovative front axle design that optimizes thermal management, enhancing tire performance. The system channels airflow from inside the wheel through ducts, enabling effective heat exchange with braking components.

— This unique setup improves front axle activation, ensuring optimal tire temperature maintenance. The design, which includes two preferential channels divided by a lip, increases the heat exchange surface, contributing to McLaren’s superior tire management.

— The advantage was evident in Melbourne, where George Russell noted McLaren’s exceptional tire performance in the final sector. Their ability to sustain grip levels better than rivals highlights the effectiveness of this system.

— The team has also implemented aerodynamic appendices that direct airflow downward, mitigating turbulence from the front wheel. This solution prevents thermal asynchrony between axles, a challenge faced by Red Bull due to its aggressive anti-dive suspension setup.

— By maintaining consistent front axle temperatures, McLaren has countered a common issue in high-downforce setups, ensuring optimal tire performance throughout races. This innovative approach gives the MCL39 a significant edge in race conditions.

[napoleon1981]

Pretty cool, I still struggle to understand how it actually works. The goal in long runs would be to cool the tires right? I.e. sucking heat out of it? Or are they cooling the inside of the rim with cold/partially cold air supplied by the brake ducts?

[mantikos]

Pretty cool, I still struggle to understand how it actually works. The goal in long runs would be to cool the tires right? I.e. sucking heat out of it? Or are they cooling the inside of the rim with cold/partially cold air supplied by the brake ducts?

No you want to heat the fronts with hot brake air. The rears tend to warm up faster and you end up out of balance.

2 gens ago Mercedes used to preheat the brakes on the grid prerace to ensure tires were warm once mounted.

[napoleon1981]

Pretty cool, I still struggle to understand how it actually works. The goal in long runs would be to cool the tires right? I.e. sucking heat out of it? Or are they cooling the inside of the rim with cold/partially cold air supplied by the brake ducts?

No you want to heat the fronts with hope brake air. 2 gens ago Mercedes used to preheat the brakes on the grid prerace to ensure types were warm once mounted

It is a ying yang. To the grid and in the first lap you want to be able to heat up the tires, to ensure good tire life in the race you want to likely dissipate heat. Drivers are riding to time deltas to keep the tire temperature in range. This is the strange part with the mclaren. It seems they can do both,they turned the tire on nicely, but also kept them alive. In an ideal state you can cool or heat the tire at will. In Australia they kept the soft tire alive in S3 in qualification as well. This was viewed as an overheating problem for other teams. Mclaren didnt have their good S3 performance due to blowing additional heat in the tire.

[SB15]

Courtesy This is Formula 1:

McLaren: The Secret to Tire Management Lies in the Hub

— McLaren has introduced an innovative front axle design that optimizes thermal management, enhancing tire performance. The system channels airflow from inside the wheel through ducts, enabling effective heat exchange with braking components.

— This unique setup improves front axle activation, ensuring optimal tire temperature maintenance. The design, which includes two preferential channels divided by a lip, increases the heat exchange surface, contributing to McLaren’s superior tire management.

— The advantage was evident in Melbourne, where George Russell noted McLaren’s exceptional tire performance in the final sector. Their ability to sustain grip levels better than rivals highlights the effectiveness of this system.

— The team has also implemented aerodynamic appendices that direct airflow downward, mitigating turbulence from the front wheel. This solution prevents thermal asynchrony between axles, a challenge faced by Red Bull due to its aggressive anti-dive suspension setup.

— By maintaining consistent front axle temperatures, McLaren has countered a common issue in high-downforce setups, ensuring optimal tire performance throughout races. This innovative approach gives the MCL39 a significant edge in race conditions.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Gmf55E2boAA ... ame=medium

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Gmf54_uagAA ... name=large

How much you wanna bet Mercedes is already trying to implement this design as soon as possible?

[ispano6]

There is more to it than what can be seen. What if McLaren have found a mechanical equivalent to DAS that is induced and managed by anti-geometry? Watching the latest tech talk made me think this is possible, considering the front axle usually tows out when the chassis is loaded. There is a geometry that can effectively tow in when under load which may be what McLaren went after

[SilviuAgo]

MCL39 in Shanghai

[Farnborough]

There is more to it than what can be seen. What if McLaren have found a mechanical equivalent to DAS that is induced and managed by anti-geometry? Watching the latest tech talk made me think this is possible, considering the front axle usually tows out when the chassis is loaded. There is a geometry that can effectively tow in when under load which may be what McLaren went after

Further back in this thread https://www.f1technical.net/forum/viewt ... &start=225 some idea of possibility

[De Wet]

[BerrageizF1]

Since you are using private material and other people's intellectual property, you could disclose the authors of the article and illustrations

[hollus]

Yep, a link to the source is the usual etiquette. Send them readers to say thanks instead of removing users from them.
Too many of the last posts don't have attribution, feel free to add it now.

[PhillipM]

There is more to it than what can be seen. What if McLaren have found a mechanical equivalent to DAS that is induced and managed by anti-geometry? Watching the latest tech talk made me think this is possible, considering the front axle usually tows out when the chassis is loaded. There is a geometry that can effectively tow in when under load which may be what McLaren went after

Further back in this thread https://www.f1technical.net/forum/viewt ... &start=225 some idea of possibility

https://www.f1technical.net/forum/viewt ... 49#p888149

There's other posts before that where a few people had passive designs to achieve the same even with DAS outlawed the year after that, well explored by various teams since then, most designs weren't worth the weight or space.

[Farnborough]

There is more to it than what can be seen. What if McLaren have found a mechanical equivalent to DAS that is induced and managed by anti-geometry? Watching the latest tech talk made me think this is possible, considering the front axle usually tows out when the chassis is loaded. There is a geometry that can effectively tow in when under load which may be what McLaren went after

Further back in this thread https://www.f1technical.net/forum/viewt ... &start=225 some idea of possibility

https://www.f1technical.net/forum/viewt ... 49#p888149

There's other posts before that where a few people had passive designs to achieve the same even with DAS outlawed the year after that, well explored by various teams since then, most designs weren't worth the weight or space.

Yes I understand in relation to that period. Obviously here I'm just referring to this McL 39 chassis.

I wasn't part of forum from that period, but bet it was quite a discussion point on here at that time. I get the impression there's possibly less participation of people with more in depth practical knowledge than previously posting. Often seeming fairly spiky in response to nuanced topic now.

This chassis certainly looks intriguing though, along with being significantly well sorted to start the season with.

[PhillipM]

Yes I understand in relation to that period. Obviously here I'm just referring to this McL 39 chassis.

Yes, just more agreeing it's more than possible to do it passively as you suggested.

[ispano6]

There is more to it than what can be seen. What if McLaren have found a mechanical equivalent to DAS that is induced and managed by anti-geometry? Watching the latest tech talk made me think this is possible, considering the front axle usually tows out when the chassis is loaded. There is a geometry that can effectively tow in when under load which may be what McLaren went after

Further back in this thread https://www.f1technical.net/forum/viewt ... &start=225 some idea of possibility

When you have experience fiddling around with suspension geometry you tend to arrive at these types of ideas
This is rather common in F1 RC tuning and while it is at scale, the philosophy is pretty similar. With inboard front suspensions, placing slightly long steering rods behind the axle/kingpin and high up on the chassis but very low on the upright leads to tow-in when the chassis is loaded. Would not be surprised if Rob Marshall arrived at this configuration with some prior RC experience!