Mclaren MP4-19 in Barcelona

[rodlamas]

As the Barcelona testes have begun today, by the photos posted at f1-live.com, we can easily see that Mclaren has brought three different MP4/19´s to the track.

Two of them, driven by Alex Wurz and Pedro de la Rosa, are already with the 2004 rear wing that Coulthard tested 2 weeks ago at Valencia. But the third car, driven by Darren Turner is still being teste with the 2003 rear wing, that Raikkonen was testing at Valencia.

Does anybody have a guess on it?





Finally, does anybody know what is this fire in one of the exausts?

[Guest]

PLus I notice De La Rosa was driving an MP4-19 without a strut between its twin-keel.

I gather mclaren is set to introduce an Active Camber Control technology which was once presented by mercedes back in 2001(in Tokyo I think...) on an experimental car called F400 Carving. Looks like an even more effective variant to Renault-Michelins OCP(Optimum Contact Patch) technology.

Active Camber Control used on F400 Carving increases cornering speed by about 20%.

[Guest]

how can you see that

[drspeed]

PLus I notice De La Rosa was driving an MP4-19 without a strut between its twin-keel.

I gather mclaren is set to introduce an Active Camber Control technology which was once presented by mercedes back in 2001(in Tokyo I think...) on an experimental car called F400 Carving. Looks like an even more effective variant to Renault-Michelins OCP(Optimum Contact Patch) technology.

Active Camber Control used on F400 Carving increases cornering speed by about 20%.

The biggest difference between the Active Camber Control(ACC) and the OCP is that the ACC relies on electronical control while the OCP is more mechanical, if not absolutely mechanical. But i'm not sure if the FIA would approve new technologies others did not have a look at. They would go against anything now that loosens competition.

BTW, is the OCP in use on the R24 or is it still under development?

[joseff]

The FIA won't allow the F400 Carving's system because it's active suspension.

The presence of OCP (OPT) on 2003 Renaults is usually signified by increased wheel offset (ie. flatter wheel dish)

[guest]

I don't know if what I'm asking makes sense but do any of you believe that McLaren is in trouble. I know that they were the first to launch their car and have tested for a relatively long time but at the same time I feel that they have a lot of reliability issues left to be sorted out before the first Grandprix. To add to my perceived reliability problems is the fact that Ferrari, Williams, BAR (though probably on a light fuel load) and (maybe even) Renault were able to better the lap record set by the McLarens quite easily. I have also noticed that though McLaren normally ends tests at the top of the time sheets they seem to struggle a lot in the first days of a new test / circuit. My view maybe wrong. I don't know because it seems like teams try to grab headlines by setting fast times on light fuel loads (though whether Ferrari and Williams also do this I don't know) or whether hybrid cars that maybe combine 2004 aero modifications with the old short life engines that rev higher are responsible to some extent. Is it also possible that by pushing the limits of the original design of the MP4 - 19 the team has created a car that is relatively inflexible / sensitive and thus hard to develop and improve.

Hope someone replies.

Thanks Bharath.

[SpeedTech]

drspeed

BTW, is the OCP in use on the R24 or is it still under development?

The last I read was that the FIA would not allow the use of OCP, though Renault is still developing it

[Guest]

The FIA won't allow the F400 Carving's system because it's active suspension.

The presence of OCP (OPT) on 2003 Renaults is usually signified by increased wheel offset (ie. flatter wheel dish)

The ride-hight of the car is not changed, so nope-its not active suspension. Active suspension & active camber are two very different things!! And as far as I know the FIA makes no mention of use of active camber in the technical regulations so it should be legal to use - for now...

[Reca]

From FIA technical rules 2003 (’04 not yet available on the Fia website but modification to this part aren’t expected) :

10.2 Suspension geometry :

10.2.1 Suspension geometry must remain fixed at all times.
10.2.2 Any powered device which is capable of altering the
configuration or affecting the performance of any part of
the suspension system is forbidden.
10.2.3 No adjustment may be made to the suspension system
while the car is in motion.

Article 10.2.1 is reported to be the part OCP/OPT does not conform with, articles 10.2.2 and 10.2.3 clearly outlaw active suspensions and active camber control.

[tom]

mclaren do seem to be in trouble at the latest test and the last one but thats because claren are trying out the double-clutch gearbox, which was made for the mp4-18 aswel. Before these 2 tests mclaren have been using the other version which is just a regular gear box.

[KJ]

I think McLaren is running slower in testing on purpose.

I think they have the MP4-19 sorted out quite well already since it was an iteration of the MP4-18. As a result, they are running slower in testing on purpose so that their competitors will NOT see how effective their design decisions were.

If they were running MUCH faster than everyone else, everyone would start studying their car's design in more detail and much of their advantage would be lost by Melbourne.

On the other hand, if they are running slow in testing, no one knows how effective their car is, and therefore will not spend as much time studying their cars design (maybe the other teams will worry about looking into Williams' nose design more).

I'm curious about one thing though...last week (in Valencia I think), almost all the teams were testing together except for McLaren. I didn't read any reports of them testing on their own privately either. So did McLaren NOT test last week for some reason? Does anyone know???

Thanks,
KJ

[tom]

mclaren did not test, they have been working overtime to get the double-clutch gear box working for the barcelona tests. their are 2 more test after this one for mclaren, one p[rivate i think.

McLaren had little trouble before xmas, but the problems were just pyling up, like i sai, i dont think they are running slow on purposely, they are testing new components that cannot be seen on the outside. i.e. the double clutch gear box, which wasmade over a year ago and is still not reliable.

[KJ]

So since McLaren did not test last week, does that mean they lost out on that testing time? Or do they get to make it up at another point in the season?

- KJ

[Guest]

So since McLaren did not test last week, does that mean they lost out on that testing time? Or do they get to make it up at another point in the season?

- KJ

By building multiple/different chassis designs & passing the FIA obligatory crash tests, yes - lol

[joseff]

Last year we've seen McLaren, Williams and Ferrari each shuffling their feet in the first half of the season in very many, very different ways.

Clearly, they've demonstrated technical and organizational abilities to solve their respective problems and bounce back. We can expect the same this year.