McLaren MP4/4B

[McLarenHonda]

I was strolling around on the internet some days ago and i came up to this photo! I never knew an MP4/4B even existed but it made quite curious over one thing!

Why did Formula 1 cars go from roll hoops to air intakes after the 1988 turbo ban? Do these air intakes above the driver's head got to do with engines becoming naturally aspirated back then or was it just an aero driven change??

[FW17]

I was strolling around on the internet some days ago and i came up to this photo! I never knew an MP4/4B even existed but it made quite curious over one thing!

Why did Formula 1 cars go from roll hoops to air intakes after the 1988 turbo ban? Do these air intakes above the driver's head got to do with engines becoming naturally aspirated back then or was it just an aero driven change??

https://64.media.tumblr.com/2dc52801b28 ... o1_640.jpg

NA air intake over the drivers helmet came about in 1971, Tyrell or Mantra, not sure who.

It was the best arrangement in distributing air to all the cylinder intakes evenly

Turbo cars needed 2 intakes in most cases and hence used the shortest route to the turbo intake, this was somewhere near the rear wheels with periscope style intakes or was taken from a duct within the radiator/side pod housing

[McLarenHonda]

I was strolling around on the internet some days ago and i came up to this photo! I never knew an MP4/4B even existed but it made quite curious over one thing!

Why did Formula 1 cars go from roll hoops to air intakes after the 1988 turbo ban? Do these air intakes above the driver's head got to do with engines becoming naturally aspirated back then or was it just an aero driven change??

https://64.media.tumblr.com/2dc52801b28 ... o1_640.jpg

NA air intake over the drivers helmet came about in 1971, Tyrell or Mantra, not sure who.

It was the best arrangement in distributing air to all the cylinder intakes evenly

Turbo cars needed 2 intakes in most cases and hence used the shortest route to the turbo intake, this was somewhere near the rear wheels with periscope style intakes or was taken from a duct within the radiator/side pod housing

Nice thanks for the reply!

Since the 2014 engine rules were announced I waited to see if any if the teams will utilize going back to the empty roll hoop but I guess single turbos plus hot V turbos didn’t leave any space for such designs…

[ENGINE TUNER]

Increased air flow into the engine, and it was higher up and therefore had cleaner and colder air.

[SealTheRealDeal]

I was strolling around on the internet some days ago and i came up to this photo! I never knew an MP4/4B even existed but it made quite curious over one thing!

Why did Formula 1 cars go from roll hoops to air intakes after the 1988 turbo ban? Do these air intakes above the driver's head got to do with engines becoming naturally aspirated back then or was it just an aero driven change??

https://64.media.tumblr.com/2dc52801b28 ... o1_640.jpg

From an old article about the Oldsmobile Indy Racing League engine,

* THE AIR FORCE. Although the IRL's 4.0-liter engines are naturally aspirated, they get a performance boost from the forward-facing air scoops behind the drivers' heads. At racing speeds, the scoop produces enough positive pressure to increase the engine's output by 5 percent - approximately 35 horsepower.

for reference, that power gain is greater than the 30hp Alpine speculated its Renault engines were lacking relative to the competition, so the performance benefit from the big overhead scoop for naturally aspirated engines is pretty significant.

[McLarenHonda]

Ah there we go! Alonso has one of these apparently…