McLaren are at it again - to build McLaren F1 follow-up!

[CocaCola5]

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All I know is that if Adrian Newey had a hand in designing this car, expect it to be quite the performer regardless of the unimpressive engine. The past several years the only way to beat Michael Schumacher in F1 has been to get Adrian Newey to design the car. And it's worked. He produced Damon Hill '96, Jacques Villeneuve '97, and Mika Hakinnen '98 & '99 world champions >>






Actually, in F1 racing these days the understanding among the insiders is, 80% is setup &c alibration(suspension, gear ratio, tires, wings), 15% is engine power, and 5% is car design. Everybody have a damn good engine so engine is not a huge factor. The car/chassis design is mute also because everybodys got a small army of aerodynamicists.

 

[dawheat]

<<Actually, in F1 racing these days the understanding among the insiders is, 80% is setup &c alibration(suspension, gear ratio, tires, wings), 15% is engine power, and 5% is car design. Everybody have a damn good engine so engine is not a huge factor. The car/chassis design is mute also because everybodys got a small army of aerodynamicists. >>

Actually I must disagree quite a bit. Setup is essential- make no doubt about it, but the vast difference between the top teams and the smaller teams are aerodynamics. With the regulation changes over the last several years plus grooved tires, there has never been IMO a greater emphasis on aerodynamic grip vs mechanical grip.

I'll preface all of this by saying that there is a huge difference in tracks- from super high downforce Monaco to high speed Monza and Hockenheim. No single team is best on all types of tracks- obviously different cars will be better on different types of tracks.

Ferrari has 2 windtunnels I belive always testing 24 hrs day/365 days a year, looking for incremental gains on top of incremental gains that add up. McLaren probably has something similar. Smaller teams such as Minardi can't even begin to compete. Its not setup which is keeping them back- car design plus an engine that is 100hp down at least from the BMW powerplant is what's killing them.

As for engines- there is also a large difference between the haves and have nots. BMW, Ferrari, Ilmor are the big 3 and there is probably close to a 30 hp spread between them. The drop off to Ford and Honda is probably close to another 10-20 hp. Watching the BMWs rocket down the Hockenheim straights makes a strong case that a powerful engine will make up for quite a bit. By no means does Williams have a superior chassis to Ferrari or even McLaren, but they could rocket down the high-speed tracks at quite a dominating pace.

The wonderful thing about a powerful engine is you can run more wing, making up for the chassis deficencies, and simply power your way down the track a la Williams.

However the best engine(unless you have a massive advantage) will not make up for a poor chassis. Tracks at Hungary and Monaco will require that you have an excellent chassis where engine power is not nearly as important. Ferrari and Mclaren are clearly the class of the field at these tracks.

Lastly don't forget the driver- there is clearly a cut above when you talk about drivers such as M. Schumcher and Mika than Rubens and Coulthard.

 

[GL]

It's incredible what Ferrari's work ethic like. Like dawheat said, they run a 24/hr a day 365 day a year wind tunnel setup with 3 shifts of aerodynamics teams. Jaguar's lack of pace this year is wholly attributed to the fact they don't even have their own wind tunnel to test in on a permanent basis. One of the big coups this year was Jaguar stealing away Adrian Newey from McLaren. This lasted about a day before Ron Dennis offered Newey a deal he couldn't resist and Newey decided to break keep his contract with McLaren. An entire court battle ensued. Many things can be put into context knowing that Jaguar had been courting Newey since the off-season. This year's McLaren has got to be Newey's worst.

I believe it was Jean Todt of Ferrari who said (and this is paraphrased) "McLaren is busy trying to make their car do 100%. Here at Ferrari, we just settle for trying to make our car do 95%. We know Michael will give us that extra 5%"

The fact is that Newey's design this year wasn't 100%, as it was in previous years, and as such the McLaren team as a whole is way off pace. Newey's past cars have literally handed their drivers victories.

My breakdown would be 75% car design, 15% engine and 10% car setup. Look at the difference in pace between BAR and Jordan (both with identical Honda engines) to show you how much the design of the car can make. Additionally, look at how entirely different car setups amongst teammates' Montoya and Ralf Schumacher makes only marginal differences.

 

[Flat]

<< WHY MERCEDES????:|

Merc engines ain't got nothin' on M-Power >>



Have any of your acually driven a fine Merc engine? I doubt it. I personally like the way a nice AMG V8 drives better than a BMW. A while ago I drove the SL 7.4 AMG, huge huge huge power, smooth, sounded great. Much faster than an M5 or Z8.

BTW... a E55 is faster much of the time than a M5.

MERCEDES ENGINES ARE NOT UNIMPRESSIVE

 

[yakko]

<< BTW... a E55 is faster much of the time than a M5. >>

It also costs a lot more.


I personally like the SLR Vision. I think it is a badass roadster.