I think McLaren are going a little loopy..

[Lee]

They can't keep it... Can they?

I mean, I can see how it would channel the air onto the nose but what about the air that goes over it, would it disrupt the flow over the rest of the car?

 

[Sting]

They wouldn't have it on the car if it didn't do something good in the wind tunnel, very radical(and ugly) I have to say.

 

[<_Spike_>]

Could be worse...could be BMW's Walrus nose or those stupid wings they put on for one race last season, at least it's legal unlike what other teams usually try (coughferraricough)

 

[Sureboss]

Have they hit a platypus from behind or something?

 

[ExigeEvan]

As said, it must be functional just for it to be there.

I think it looks pretty good to be honest.

 

[Appie]

It looks actually quite good on the McLaren:tup:.

 

[Robin]

They have been doing so well this season, do they really need to fiddle with it! It's great as it is!......

To be honest it doesnt look that horrible, it just hides the merc badge which is a shame, if they made it see through it would be great!

 

[Dougboy]

Could be worse...could be BMW's Walrus nose )

I gotta say i quite liked the BMW's nose

Beauty is important in formula one but im pretty sure any team would rather have an ugly fast car than a good lookin slow car

 

[GilesGuthrie]

They have been doing so well this season, do they really need to fiddle with it! It's great as it is!......

To be honest it doesnt look that horrible, it just hides the merc badge which is a shame, if they made it see through it would be great!

With McLaren and Ferrari so close, this season is likely to be won in the development race.

They must be onto something: they "secretly" took it to one of the Balearics to do some straightline running.

 

[jammyozzy]

So...what does it do? Increase front downforce? The shape of it, combined with the shape of the front wing, makes it look like it's creating a 'tunnel' of air around the nose of the car, but my limited knowledge of aerodynamics means I can't fathom why that would be an advantage.

Also, isn't it almost in the driver's line of sight? I'm sure having a humpback bridge taped across the nose of my car would be as annoying as hell to try and drive with.

 

[rovens]

Bull Bars on a F1 car?

 

[Blake]

I&#8217;m going to say it probably has more to do with the air that&#8217;s hitting the suspension than that which is hitting the cockpit. I&#8217;m guessing it&#8217;s to help split the air before it hits the suspension.

I also note that the fins in-front of the cockpit have been removed.

So the outer parts of the wing will be just like everyone else, produce downforce and try to get as much air as possible to go over the outer parts of the suspension. The inner part rises with the suspension so I&#8217;m going to say it&#8217;s just the to split the air before it hits the suspension, so there&#8217;s less drag and less turbulence.

 

[Casio]

That's amazing how that thing doesn't flex.

 

[Cap'n Jack]

That's amazing how that thing doesn't flex.

Yeah, when I first saw it I was worried other teams would complain about it flexing.

 

[Lee]

Well, Honda have attempted to go one better:

It's DUMBO!!

 

[ExigeEvan]

Now that is freaking awesome looking aerodynamics. Think outside the box people!

 

[Sureboss]

Behind the box in case of Honda...

 

[MagpieRacer]

Honda's isnt a case of hmm, this will work..its a case of, anything you can do we can make it look cooler but its actually pointless..

Looks like freaking tidal waves considering tis in the ocean section..

 

[MustangSVT]

Is that thing real? Looks photoshopped to me.

 

[Lee]

That's what I first thought but with GPupdate being on of the better F1 websites, I wouldn't think they would let a photoshopped car get on the site.

Plus, ITV.com/f1 have a story on it aswell as the official Formula 1 site.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

You would think they'd come up with a way to do exactly the same thing but actually look sensible ...

 

[-Fred-]

I miss the days when F1 cars were beautiful AND aerodynamicly efficient...

 

[Aquendwato]

The McLaren wing doesn't look bad, at 200km/h I doubt you'll really notice it.

The Honda on the other hand, do the wings flap?

 

[Boundary Layer]

...and here I was left thinking that Honda couldn't possibly look any worse.

Well, the've proven me wrong.
(btw, seems legit as Bee says. It's on formula1.com too. Link)

I have a hard time believing that these will remain legal within technical regulations for very long. To mee they resemble like a shaplier version of the vertical members BMW experimented with last year.




I saw the McLaren wing there as well on the 30th. Link

Sure, it looks a little outlandish, but I like it.

I also note that the fins in-front of the cockpit have been removed.

Good observation. I'd noticed that too. I believe the purpose of those fins was to clean up air flowing over the cockpit/sidepods. If thats the case this new wing element must do a decent job of conditioning the air in those regions.

 

[XGT Taipan]

I honestly think that McLarens new nose wing will be banned, because it will be classed as a 'flexing wing'. Surely at 320kph that thing would not hold its stationary position. It has to be banned.

 

[Aquendwato]

I definitely think there will be some complaints, but look at the rest of the car. There's plenty of other pieces that look like they should move but don't. Honda's elephant ears are a prime example; the McLaren Viking horns, Spyker's nose winglets, Red Bull's sidepod wins, and pretty much any front wing LOOK like they should flex, but don't.

 

[Omnis]

I honestly think that McLarens new nose wing will be banned, because it will be classed as a 'flexing wing'. Surely at 320kph that thing would not hold its stationary position. It has to be banned.

You'd be surprised at how strong their CF weaves are.

Like Blake said, I think the wing splits the air hitting the suspension, but I also think it forces dirty air back onto the front wing. It looks like some kind of catch. The center arch most likely channels the air up to "the trident" (the intake and the "horns.")

 

[prisonermonkeys]

I definitely think there will be some complaints, but look at the rest of the car. There's plenty of other pieces that look like they should move but don't. Honda's elephant ears are a prime example; the McLaren Viking horns, Spyker's nose winglets, Red Bull's sidepod wins, and pretty much any front wing LOOK like they should flex, but don't.

At times I think that only half of the F1 game is in designing a new car and coming up with new aero innovations; the other half is trying to get the FIA to rule on the competition's innovations (Spyker, this means you).

 

[ExigeEvan]

I honestly think that McLarens new nose wing will be banned, because it will be classed as a 'flexing wing'. Surely at 320kph that thing would not hold its stationary position. It has to be banned.

That's a good thick chunk of CF there and it's not going to vudge unless they want it to budge.

Also note, that if it was to flex downwards, it would be going against the mechanical properties of the curve that forms it.

However, if it is "sprung" and not just merely formed in that shape, it would be worrying to see how it reacts in a collision.

 

[<_Spike_>]

See Honda are just trying to be fancy, instead of wowing them on the track they're going to wow spectators when they see a fly by of Honda nose-cones before the race