2012 McLaren MP4-27

Hampus Andersson · Feb 9, 2012

The exhausts seem to be working very good. They manages to burn the floor of the car even!

Ryan Hayes · Feb 9, 2012

They expect a 'very different car' come next test... do you think there is any chance they may have designed a drop-nose to be wheeled out next test so they can do a -like-for-like aero comparison? a lot of teams will not have even looked at the way McLaren have gone, and surely they knew about the drop nose... maybe they can steal a march on everyone else and work out with hard facts which provides the most benefit?

Hampus Andersson · Feb 9, 2012

The big teams has a windtunnel, Mclaren i can guarantee you have tried both concepts for the last three years now.
they know the benefits of having a higher nose, but they also know the benefits of having a low nose.

There is no right or wrong it´s just a different design philosophy applied by Mclaren.
At the end of the season we could see the Mclaren be just as quick as the Red Bull and they have two completely different noses, RBR having the high nose and Mclaren having the low nose.

They will keep the low nose because it works.

All teams will have "different" cars in Australia, no team wants to show what they have now as it would allow teams to develop it before the first race.

Chris Jenkins · Feb 9, 2012

So do the exaust gases get channelled back inside the bodywork on the McLaren? Maybe towards the diffuser?

Hampus Andersson · Feb 9, 2012

Chris Jenkins said:
So do the exaust gases get channelled back inside the bodywork on the McLaren? Maybe towards the diffuser?

Not inside but they are being forced down to create a skirt that will enclose the diffuser which in turn allows for a higher rake and artificially creates a "bigger" diffuser which in turn allows them to run the front wing closer to the ground which aids aero at the front

A lot can be gained by simply closing in the air from the diffuser

Hampus Andersson · Feb 9, 2012

Bit like this, i know to little to make an accurate assessment but the idea is to create a bigger, virtual diffuser with the exhaust gasses.
Red is exhaust gases, blue is the theoretical virtual diffuser and yellow line is regular diffuser.

Something along those lines i believe it´s how it works. RBR being the pioneer last for this.

The difference from last year though is that you have no cold or hot blowing meaning the effect will only work while on throttle.

Hampus Andersson · Feb 9, 2012

Or it might be like this,

Red - Exhaust gasses
Blue - Air
Dark green - physical diffuser
Light green - virtual diffuser
Orange - end of virtual diffuser, essentially a bigger one = more downforce.

And then some of the exhausts trickles down to the sides to fully enclose the normal air creating walls sort of.

Hampus Andersson · Feb 9, 2012

Some better pictures show that the floor isn´t burned at all actually.
It´s just marbles so even if the drawings above is semi-correct, the Mclaren uses none of it actually.

Slightly less on this picture but we can clearly see it´s pieces of rubber.

So back to square one in terms of what their goal is to blow.

ufunacaoenn · Feb 9, 2012

They maybe want to blow some weed.

:o

Just kidding but I have to say that the rear part of the car looks like an aero-dynamic mess.

Markus Neumann · Feb 10, 2012

Quote from ScarbsF1:

Even more aggressive solution would be directing the exhausts onto the vanes allowed around the rear brake ducts. If avoiding the brake cooling inlet snorkel, the fast moving exhaust gas would produce downforce directly at the wheel, which is more efficient than wings mounted to the sprung part of the chassis. However the issue here would be the solution is likely to be so effective, that it will be sensitive to throttle position and rear ride height. If these issues can be engineered out, then this is an attractive solution.

I thought that's what they are doing...