47 replies to this topic

[cavallino]

  

They are actually going to take that thing on track? Have they no self respect? No sense of aesthetics, are they all colour blind??

  

[narain fan]

cavallino, on Jan 9 2006, 09:13 PM, said:

  

They are actually going to take that thing on track? Have they no self respect? No sense of aesthetics, are they all colour blind??

  

[realick2002]

atleast add some more. just plain orange isint good enough. one cant even read the name of the sponsors like WEST

[funkejay]

realick2002, on Jan 7 2006, 07:29 AM, said:

I've neva seen an orage mclaren. i dont think i'll like it. Silver Arrows for eva. cos i remember Orange Arrows died out    bloody orange

monza gorilla, on Jan 9 2006, 07:41 AM, said:

It looks a bit darker than the colour used in the days of Bruce McLaren, but I don't mind it at all.

I don't know about the photos of the '97 and '98 test cars, but the '06 test scheme looks lighter than the old McLaren orange..... I don't know, it's hard to tell if the photos are true to life or not.....

Here's a pic of Bruce in the M7C at Silverstone in '69 (I was only one at the time!!!!!). And no Senna, I wasn't watching F1 at that age, although I'm sure you were...........      



here's another one of the M7B from '68.... (I dunno, but I think the McLaren has aged better............)



and another of the M7A from '67.........



and the M10 from the 70s.....



and the MP14....



and the M16 too.........

Edited by funkejay, 10 January 2006 - 02:33 AM.

[pumpdoc]

Thanks for those old pics, I'm sure I had those on my wall, out of the mags of the day. It's also remarkable how close those cars were to the INDY cars of the day...........

[funkejay]

pumpdoc, on Jan 9 2006, 08:32 PM, said:

Thanks for those old pics, I'm sure I had those on my wall, out of the mags of the day. It's also remarkable how close those cars were to the INDY cars of the day...........

Well doc, you should be old enough to remember when F1 cars DID run at Indy!!!!!! Though Senna and the others may not want to admit it, the formulas at one time were similar enough that you could run the F1 cars at the Speedway, and many did....

[pumpdoc]

Yes sadly I'm old enough to remember when Chapman brought Clark and the rear engine Lotus to Indy and sparked the revolution from roadsters to the rear engine cars, the Sunoco McLarens(Penske) that Revson and Donahue ran in the early '70's were F1 clones, dammit now you've gone and made me all misty eyed for that era   If only I'd kept all of the mags, programs and slot cars and models that I had back then

[funkejay]

pumpdoc, on Jan 9 2006, 08:59 PM, said:

Yes sadly I'm old enough to remember when Chapman brought Clark and the rear engine Lotus to Indy and sparked the revolution from roadsters to the rear engine cars, the Sunoco McLarens(Penske) that Revson and Donahue ran in the early '70's were F1 clones, dammit now you've gone and made me all misty eyed for that era   If only I'd kept all of the mags, programs and slot cars and models that I had back then

godblessyou pump - I wish I'd been around for that.....

[pumpdoc]

You can't even begin to imadgen, Andy Grannatelli's parents lived just around the cornor from me and I got to meet Mario A. back in '68 and then got free tix to the race at Riverside from the Grannitelli's. I had more STP stickers   We used to go to the arena to watch the Indy 500 on closed circut, that was a big deal     I've been to races since '68 starting with Riverside, Ascott etc,  sigh........................

[Ctrl300]

Thank you Funkejay for those pics! They are all before my time sadly.
And pumpdoc, if you had those mags today they would probably be worth a small fortune...How stupid and short sighted we are as kids.

[monza gorilla]

Thanks for the great pix Jay. There was something special about that era. Maybe it's because I can remember those cars when they were new? Bugger, I'm getting to be as bad as Pumpdoc!

[pumpdoc]

monza gorilla, on Jan 10 2006, 02:59 AM, said:

Thanks for the great pix Jay. There was something special about that era. Maybe it's because I can remember those cars when they were new? Bugger, I'm getting to be as bad as Pumpdoc!

Yup, 'back in the day' I used to work my a## off to get the coin so I could get the latest Auto mags and then I'd read and re-read the stories and cut out the pics to put up on my wall. The only racing you got on the tele was weeks, sometimes months old races on 'Wide World of Sports'.

[realick2002]

thanks Funkejay

i've just been accustomed to the silver black machine

[AutoRacer5]

[Ctrl300]

Q&A: McLaren F1 Chief Aerodynamicist Peter Prodromou


As Team McLaren Mercedes returns to the test track in Jerez today with Pedro de la Rosa and Gary Paffett at the wheel of the interim MP4-20s, Peter Prodromou, Chief Aerodynamicist at McLaren Racing, discusses his department's ongoing development schedule of the MP4-21.

What is your technical background and how would you describe your role and responsibilities as Chief Aerodynamicist?

I studied Aeronautical Engineering at Imperial College in London for three years, before spending an additional twelve months on a Masters. I then joined McLaren to introduce and begin to develop Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) within the company. My role progressed to looking after the wind tunnel testing and in 2000 I became Head of Aerodynamics.



As Chief Aerodynamicist at McLaren Racing, I lead a team of aerodynamicists and CFD engineers, whose responsibility and goal is to effectively advance the aerodynamic design of the car to improve aerodynamic performance, using the various tools available to us, which are CAD, CFD, and the wind tunnel. It is also vital to continue developing the tools that are available to us to help us to do that job.

What is your specific role within the MP4-21 project?

The chief aerodynamicist role, which means that I am responsible for the shape of the car.

When did work begin with MP4-21 and what did the initial stage comprise?

From the aerodynamic side, work began on MP4-21 around the beginning of April 2005. Of course other work on the car started well before that, such as engines and gearbox.

The start of the process focused on defining areas of MP4-21 that we wanted to research, which were potentially going to affect the fundamentals of the car. Areas such as a new front suspension layout, front and rear axle positions and different chassis designs were explored and then specified at around this time. Then there was a period when the research list was worked on, in terms of actually designing the various components that would be required for the wind tunnel or for CFD, and then making those components.

When did wind tunnel work begin with MP4-21?

We hit the tunnel with MP4-21 at the beginning of July 2005, and since then we have completed thousands of hours of wind tunnel testing. At this time of year, the operational hours for the wind tunnel at the McLaren Technology Centre are extensive, running seven days a week.

How is the design process going?

It is going reasonably well, we are at the stage where we have defined the initial package and now we are working on finding performance steps to continue to improve it through the winter and into this coming season.

How have the regulation changes for 2006 affected the aerodynamic design of MP4-21?

For 2006 the regulation changes are not as significant as for 2005. There are some, but not at the level of last year. For the aerodynamics team there were two implications of the regulation changes for 2006.

The first is how we could exploit the change to the new Mercedes-Benz V8 engine, which opened up opportunities for the repackaging of the rear of the car. A lot of effort has been put into this area, and it was an early focus to establish what has become available to us at the back end.

The second major regulation change was to the forward deflector area, which has been raised by regulation 50mm. Even though technically you can devise a solution relatively easily, for example take what we had last year and raise it, the consequences of doing that were significant and they were complex enough that we had to address that whole area of the car quite comprehensively.

Is MP4-21 an evolution or a new car?

It is a new car, but in terms of its basic concept it is evolved (with less than 10% carry-over parts) from the MP4-20 fundamentals.

What is the current focus of the design programme?

I’m afraid I cannot be specific for competitive reasons, but the basic car is now defined and fully spec'ed and the focus has now turned to what we can do between now and the first race, whilst also looking at what we can do for the various upgrade packages during the season. McLaren has always pushed hard to bring continual lap time improvements right up to the last race. The research and development pressure is relentless, because that’s what it takes to win in a modern Formula One team.
www.paddocktalk.com

It is uplifting to hear that they have been working long and hard with the new car, but 'going reasonably well' is not what I wanted to hear....

Edited by Ctrl300, 11 January 2006 - 01:53 PM.

[monza gorilla]

There is a separate thread about the article you just posted, Ctrl300.

[Ctrl300]

monza gorilla, on Jan 12 2006, 01:11 AM, said:

There is a separate thread about the article you just posted, Ctrl300.

Hmm, how much one miss when having fun

[monza gorilla]