Vodafone McLaren Mercedes 2013

[KeiKo403]

Shouldn't this situation re-open the debate about testing limits?

What is there to stop a team like McLaren producing an 'expeiremental' car, conforming to F1 regs, no livery (just plain CF) and testing with that at say somewhere like Silverstone?
So long as they don't call it MP4-28 or something, it could just be a "We're McLaren and we want to make a prototype car to go fast, nothing to do with F1 at all" I guess they could rope in Pirelli so make some bespoke tyres? Or I'm sure Bridgestone could mimic the Pirelli tyres for them too. Just a thought, I've always wondered why teams don't do this.

[turbof1]

Because that simply is not possible. Mclaren would need to built a car that is so much dissimilar to a f1 car so that they circumvent the rules, yet on the contrary a car similar enough to a f1 car so that testing results are relevant. Because current f1 cars are so dependant on details, being off some of the slightest details means you end up with a horrible car. To get good results from testing you need to test the car itself.

[KeiKo403]

I guess what defins an F1 car then as an F1 car? What is the rule that says I (funded by an F1 team and with unlimited use of their resources) can't make a car that conforms to FIA standards (which are freely avalible on the FIA website) and hire out Paul Ricard track for a week to play with it? I'm not in F1 but if McLaren let me use their wind tunnel (unrestricted as this isn't an F1 car) what's stopping me?

[CBeck113]

Shouldn't this situation re-open the debate about testing limits?

Good idea - start by asking Ferrari

[hakan439]

So McLaren is the only team in the entire world, who can make the car go faster by mistake.

Maybe they better start designing the car by mistakes

[Paul]

Probably the same reason why Ferrari used a McLaren as their teaser, just had it laying around.

[bhall]

I like mine better. Of course, I would.

[beelsebob]

I like mine better. Of course, I would.

If yours was the beautiful metallic McLaren orange design, I agree. If it was the non metallic orange/red repsol design, I prefer this one.

[bhall]

I did both. I thought the metallic orange one looked like a wall at CotA, though. So, I deleted it.



That one takes design elements from here...



...and here...



...and puts them together in a package that I think isn't too far fetched. Repsol title-sponsorship makes a lot more sense to me than does one from Telmex. I mean, if anyone is in a position to burn money, it's Carlos Slim. But, people like him usually don't amass their fortunes by burning money. Telmex makes money hand over fist due to a near-monopoly in Mexico and dominant positions in South America. However, that also means there's little potential for growth.

Repsol, on the other hand, has a long history with Honda in MotoGP, is a global firm that's trying to expand, and has "brand synergy" with McLaren.

EDIT: Mostly I'm just pleased with my photo edit. I didn't know how to do any of the things I did there until I actually did them.

[Gridlock]

I really, really struggle to picture the part of a modern F1 car which, when fitted upside-down or back-to-front, lowers the car and dramatically improves everything yet is unobvious and easy to miss. So while their earnestness is apparent, and there's no reason to lie, it really has me stumped. Maybe a simple washer or spacer of some sort?

"We're generating inverse zogs!"

[beelsebob]

I really, really struggle to picture the part of a modern F1 car which, when fitted upside-down or back-to-front, lowers the car and dramatically improves everything yet is unobvious and easy to miss. So while their earnestness is apparent, and there's no reason to lie, it really has me stumped. Maybe a simple washer or spacer of some sort?

"We're generating inverse zogs!"

Sure, or a simple bracket off which suspension members are hung – placing such a part upside down or back to front could easily cause the change in suspension geometry needed to lower the car.

[Owen.C93]

I'm surprised they didn't set the car up at the track though. If they did they would have noticed the incorrect ride height.

[AnthonyG]

I guess what defins an F1 car then as an F1 car? What is the rule that says I (funded by an F1 team and with unlimited use of their resources) can't make a car that conforms to FIA standards (which are freely avalible on the FIA website) and hire out Paul Ricard track for a week to play with it? I'm not in F1 but if McLaren let me use their wind tunnel (unrestricted as this isn't an F1 car) what's stopping me?

Tyres on the practical side for starters.

[Neno]

I'm surprised they didn't set the car up at the track though. If they did they would have noticed the incorrect ride height.

I think same thing happend Williams 2010. They were good and pretty fast in testing in Barcelona, when they discover they drived with incorrect ride height, and they made backward progress instead. They did discover car was actually slower in regulations rules

[phillippe]

I'm surprised they didn't set the car up at the track though. If they did they would have noticed the incorrect ride height.

But wouldn't/couldn't they have noticed once the car was actually running? These cars have ride height sensors during testing, right?