McLaren MP4-29 Mercedes

[RZS10]

[...]
You've lost me there, you are drawing lines on things that aren't even visible in the photo.

yeah... i know the left image is not really convincing, but in the right one you should see what i'm trying to show - mainly that the gurney is pretty big, we could determine how big it is with a decent picture of the suspension from the front - take some reference points (height of the rear wing), count the pixels, do some math... voila, that would give usthe height overall, and the same from the front

[f1rules]

looking on wri2.net friday pictures, kevin was doing an aero run when he crashed, the car was full off flowvis in all colors
that was a pity, would be nice to see the high res versions
http://www.wri2.net/Jerez-F1-Test-28-31 ... 89-st.aspx

[daveyrace]

I don't think it's that important to know how super duber exactly it is shaped, just to know that it is a gurney flap. Both your shapes are also converging to eachother, so the truth is somewhere in the middle.

Exactly, to add to that I think the cross section of the arm is probably not the same across its length so the truth is actually somewhere in the middle.

I would be interested to know the material that they are using and how it is constructed. It looks quite bodged together like a test piece, not a very Mclaren like piece, bits of tape covering seams etc.
I wouldn't be surprised if they have been changing the shape of the wishbone parts throughout the test, there only appear to be a handful of bolts holding them on. Its not like any of us are going to tell the small difference between the parts, we can't even decide if it looks like a fungi,a campana or a house brick. When it is actually shaped like a Mclaren MP4-29 rear tie-rod

I guess it would be near to impossible to model this scenario in a computer simulation or in a wind tunnel reliably enough to set it up properly. Much like the problems with the coanda exhausts. Which is why it is an unfinished part, a modular test part. Hence why they are getting as much test time with it as they can.
Its not lack of money that has made them make a cheap looking part, they made a carbon fiber plain tie rod for the launch car!
I would expect to see a lovely sculptural carbon fiber piece in its place for the first race, we will likely tell if it is working as planned if they have already upgraded to that at the Bahrain test.

[mcjamweasel]

I wonder how much of an unsprung weight penalty they're paying with this? There has to be a mechanical setup compromise with it.

[Owen.C93]

Aero is king.

[sknguy]

I wonder how much of an unsprung weight penalty they're paying with this? There has to be a mechanical setup compromise with it.

I would think it''s aero neutral (downforce-wise) as per the F1Technical article http://www.f1technical.net/development/435 and they probably would have had to prove that to the FIA anyway. But the cost in drag must be worth it in benefits to the diffuser. They were posting among the quickest lap times during testing. So maybe the low pressure area behind these arms must be helping... not really aero because they're detrimental to the aero, but in diffuser performance I suppose.

[beelsebob]

I wonder how much of an unsprung weight penalty they're paying with this? There has to be a mechanical setup compromise with it.

I would think it''s aero neutral (downforce-wise) as per the F1Technical article http://www.f1technical.net/development/435 and they probably would have had to prove that to the FIA anyway.

Argh, for the third time, the rules DO NOT SPECIFY THAT THESE PARTS HAVE TO BE AERO NEUTRAL. They specify that they must be symmetrical about their major axis, which they clearly are.

[acosmichippo]

I wonder how much of an unsprung weight penalty they're paying with this? There has to be a mechanical setup compromise with it.

I would think it''s aero neutral (downforce-wise) as per the F1Technical article http://www.f1technical.net/development/435 and they probably would have had to prove that to the FIA anyway.

Argh, for the third time, the rules DO NOT SPECIFY THAT THESE PARTS HAVE TO BE AERO NEUTRAL. They specify that they must be symmetrical about their major axis, which they clearly are.

But that means they would be aero neutral in isolation, right? They just aren't when viewed from the perspective of the whole car as a system.

[PhillipM]

I wonder how much of an unsprung weight penalty they're paying with this? There has to be a mechanical setup compromise with it.

Probably not a lot, the rear wishbones already tend to be used as aero guides anyway if you look at the rest of the teams.

[beelsebob]

I would think it''s aero neutral (downforce-wise) as per the F1Technical article http://www.f1technical.net/development/435 and they probably would have had to prove that to the FIA anyway.

Argh, for the third time, the rules DO NOT SPECIFY THAT THESE PARTS HAVE TO BE AERO NEUTRAL. They specify that they must be symmetrical about their major axis, which they clearly are.

But that means they would be aero neutral in isolation, right? They just aren't when viewed from the perspective of the whole car as a system.

The point is that no "convincing" is necessary. No one has to go to the FIA and explain why the is an aero neutral device. The FIA simply go "is it symmetrical? Yup, great, that's fine then".

[nacho]

I'm so confused with the photos that it seems they have multiple versions? I don't understand how the shapes could be so different from different angles.

[Pilatus]

Would higher (or more agressively shaped) diffuser gurney be at least similarly beneficial like those mushroom shaped wishbones?

[mclaren_mircea]

Reading about the car's characteristics in different websites, I found something very interesting about Mp4-29. A jurnalist who was at the track revelead that mp4-29's engine sounds different than W05 "The MP4-29 was running smoothly, with its Mercedes power unit emitting a pleasingly deep grunting sound, with a noise reminiscent of off-throttle blowing at the first corner. " It's that possible that Mclaren my run different engine mapping compared to W05? Something that they set-up as a team on the engine differently than Mercedes engineers?

[beelsebob]

Would higher (or more agressively shaped) diffuser gurney be at least similarly beneficial like those mushroom shaped wishbones?

It would be illegal.

[mclaren_mircea]

According to Omnicorse in the last day of testins, Mclaren is trying some sort of monkey seat. I thought that everything like this was banned for 2014. Take a look

http://www.omnicorse.it/magazine/34359/ ... onkey-seat

La McLaren ha mostrato il suo monkey seat
Sulla MP4-29 è poi apparso anche uno spoilerino più in basso, oltre alla "tapparella" della sospensione posteriore
La McLaren MP4-29 ha bene impressionato a Jerez: Kevin Magnussen ha chiuso la quattro giorni di test a Jerez con il miglior tempo assoluto (in 1'23"276), restituendo il sorriso alla squadra di Woking dopo la terribile stagione dello scorso anno.

E il danese con la sua verve giovanile ha contribuito a dare una spinta alla squadra che sembra essersi data una scossa nell'inverno: la vettura curata da Tim Goss ha colpito la fantasia degli osservatori di Jerez grazie all'innovativa sospensione posteriore con la "tapparella", ma nel retrotreno della MP4-29 è apparso anche un curioso monkey seat montato a sbalzo oltre i piloncini dell'ala posteriore. E in un secondo momento è apparso un ulteriore spoilerino più in basso a dimostrazione che è proprio il posteriore l'area di maggiore sviluppo curata dagli aerodinamici del Technocentre...