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PSBuckshot
Original Poster
4,642 posts
28 months
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Or is it simply nothing? Might be overlooking this but now both the Ferrari and RB have launched their cars and they both have these weird noses.   And the McLaren  Your thoughts on this? I'd be a bit concerned as to why a few other teams including the other big 2 have chosen to have these 'bumps' if I were Mclaren.
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Reardy Mister
11,041 posts
91 months
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What are the bumps for? Purely to house the drivers feet and pedals?
The cars have had high flat-topped noses before havent they? Someone with better historical knowledge will know for sure but its not the first time we've seen similar designs.
The old aerodynamic adage is "If it looks fast, it will be fast." On that basis I would say the McLaren has nothing to worry about.
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Use Psychology
9,797 posts
61 months
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red bull and ferrari both had high noses last year.
this year the regulations mandate lower noses.
ferrari and red bull kept their noses as high as possible.
last year and the year before, mclaren had a lower nose. their nose was already pretty much under the new max height, so they didn't have to alter their front end very much to comply with the regulations.
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hyperblue
2,125 posts
49 months
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Surely they would have considered the 'hump' option, but chose against for one reason or another.
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Vocal Minority
2,107 posts
21 months
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I was under the impression that the overall aerodynamic philosophy of McLaren meant they had a lower bulkhead than RB and Ferrari anyway, meaning they didn't need the nose dip.
Anyway, something I have learned through life, just because you're the only one...it doesn't mean you're the one that's wrong.
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daimatt
488 posts
104 months
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If you have those pictures and are interested in the 2012 cars then you have surely read the threads about the cars? All the reasons for the Mclaren design and the stepped design of the others has been explained in pretty much all the threads about the cars.
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LocoBlade
4,687 posts
125 months
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No, Mclaren's 2011 car pretty much meets the 2012 nose height regulations so has just naturally evolved and been improved, it's everyone else that's had to compromise their previous thinking to meet the new regulations so if anything it's everyone else that might have missed a trick. If Mclaren's car is uncompetitive it won't be because of the nose.
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FloppyRaccoon
1,916 posts
35 months
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Reardy Mister said: What are the bumps for? Purely to house the drivers feet and pedals?
The cars have had high flat-topped noses before havent they? Someone with better historical knowledge will know for sure but its not the first time we've seen similar designs.
The old aerodynamic adage is "If it looks fast, it will be fast." On that basis I would say the McLaren has nothing to worry about.  It's to comply with the new regulations. The end section of the nose has to be below a certain height this year so they don't run over the top of other cars. OP, this has been covered quite a few times in the threads about the new Mclaren, Ferrari etc. Read the ScarbsF1 blog on the Mclaren, very interesting - http://scarbsf1.wordpress.com/
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Reardy Mister
11,041 posts
91 months
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FloppyRaccoon said: Reardy Mister said: What are the bumps for? Purely to house the drivers feet and pedals?
The cars have had high flat-topped noses before havent they? Someone with better historical knowledge will know for sure but its not the first time we've seen similar designs.
The old aerodynamic adage is "If it looks fast, it will be fast." On that basis I would say the McLaren has nothing to worry about. It's to comply with the new regulations. The end section of the nose has to be below a certain height this year so they don't run over the top of other cars. OP, this has been covered quite a few times in the threads about the new Mclaren, Ferrari etc. Read the ScarbsF1 blog on the Mclaren, very interesting - http://scarbsf1.wordpress.com/ In that case, where the hell ARE the drivers feet and pedals?!
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MSTRBKR
4,917 posts
67 months
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McLaren had a low nose last year so they carried it forward, the concept worked. Every other team had a 2011 nose that is not legal in 2012 so had to make do with these nasty things for a couple of years until the major overhaul in 2014. Some say that McLaren designed the 2011 car with the 2012 rules in mind...
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Wombat3
5,192 posts
75 months
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Reardy Mister said: In that case, where the hell ARE the drivers feet and pedals?! They have to be behind the line of the front wheels.
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Matt..
1,729 posts
58 months
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If the hump is such a great idea then why wasn't it done before? It is surely only there because they can't easily change their cars to meet the new regs, after all f1 is about evolving cars over several years.
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MSTRBKR
4,917 posts
67 months
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Matt.. said: If the hump is such a great idea then why wasn't it done before? It is surely only there because they can't easily change their cars to meet the new regs, after all f1 is about evolving cars over several years. Indeed. Newey has said that it's about making the best of the bad set of rules this year. McLaren might find themselves ahead from the off as they have managed to come up with a 'conventional' design that is within the rules.
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LocoBlade
4,687 posts
125 months
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Hopefully this explains it a little better than words. Here's the 2012 Mclaren with a dotted line roughly where the 2012 regulations stipulate a maximum height for the tub and the nose, they dont need a step because the tub is low enough to join the nose underneath the step height.  In comparison here's the 2012 Ferrari (image reversed to keep the same view). You can see the chassis behind the front wheel is higher when gauging it against the front wheel height, and as the nose cant be that height, a step is put in to meet the regulations.  Now here's last year's Mclaren MP4-26, Ive drawn on both the 2011 height regulations and also the 2012. As can be seen, last year's nose and tub is if anything a bit lower than this years design so would almost certainly meet the 2012 regulations as well as the 2011 regulations.  Then in comparison here's the 2011 Ferrari with the 2011 and 2012 regs drawn on, as can be seen here the 2011 nose is too high to meet the 2012 regulations and the tub is too high to allow a smooth nose like the Mclaren, so theyve opted to keep the fundamental tub design but drop the nose to meet the new regulations, rather than change completely and follow Mclaren's idea.  From this you can see its the other teams that want to persist with a high tub that have been compromised, whereas Mclaren have simply evolved what they had last year and presumably made it even better.
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ajprice
7,227 posts
65 months
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Reardy Mister said: In that case, where the hell ARE the drivers feet and pedals?! 
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Richard-G
1,090 posts
44 months
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This must be about the 16 trillionth time I've read about these humpy noses! I don't want to sound like a typical grumpy ph'er but if ur interested enough in f1 then google scarbs, race car engineer etc. then you would know since the start of 2010 mclaren have adopted a diff approach to their front end.
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LiamM45
445 posts
49 months
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I think it'll be quite the opposite (but I may see Vettel proving me wrong!).
Typically McLaren seem to start slow and get better as the season progresses as the car develops, but I think this year with car being more of an 'evolution' than a total front end redesign, McLaren may be on the front foot and RB and Ferrari will be playing catch up. Wouldn't it be great if these new designs really shake things up though, and we see some more midfield teams really pushing the big 3?
Maybe I am being a little too optimistic, but this season is certainly looking very interesting. I just hope McLaren have the car Lewis and Jenson deserve.
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ajprice
7,227 posts
65 months
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I think it will be closer this year, through the regulations (nose designs, exhausts and diffusers) and teams getting better (Mercedes pushing into the top 3 teams, Caterham moving away from the back).
As said, Mclarens front is low enough not to need a hump, the Red Bull does look interesting though with the opening in the hump for what? Aero? Cooling the car? Cooling the driver? An air screen over the drivers head?
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team underdog
848 posts
98 months
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Richard-G said: This must be about the 16 trillionth time I've read about these humpy noses! I don't want to sound like a typical grumpy ph'er but if ur interested enough in f1 then google scarbs, race car engineer etc. then you would know since the start of 2010 mclaren have adopted a diff approach to their front end. What he said.
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MSTRBKR
4,917 posts
67 months
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Some very interesting stuff coming out on page 10 and 11 of this thread on F1 technical concerning the 'slot' on the RB8. http://www.f1technical.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1...I didn't think it was a hole when I saw it, and now someone has added some weight to that argument. It looks like RB have gone one step further again, hats off to them.
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