McLaren MP4-28 Mercedes

[Jackles-UK]

All of the rapid-prototyping I did at Uni was using a photosensitive resin that hardened once the laser beam had hit the CAD mapped out co-ordinates. The white end-plated wing at Barcelona looked very similar to the items I had a hand in designing. The end result was always a very resilient white (note similarities) polymer that was unbelievably accurate. My lecturer said that although the end product is fine for certain parts like wing-tips (he was more of an aviation fan than racing!) it couldn't really stand up to any great structural load. This makes me think that Ti may not have been the material used for an RP'd endplate - seems a bit strength/cost excessive!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kEWSrbhHuI[/youtube]

[flyboy2160]

Titanium shmytanium. The white parts could be short fiber reinforced thermoplastic, which would be much more structural than neat polymer. I can't see them as RP Ti. I think that's a harder/longer process than RP thermoplastics. And Ti RP parts aren't white when they're done.

[Pup]

Why again do we think this wing was made of titanium?

Rapid prototyping and a person very fanatically holding on to his story .

I could be wrong about that for the record. Back in 2011 Australia, mclaren rapid prototyped their complete diffuser out of titanium. It had the same white color, but of course doesn't mean automatically the FW in barcelona is made out of titanium. That it was rapid protoyped, that I'm quite convinced of.

Well, I'm with you in that the whole wing thing was a bit weird, but I think if the wing were titanium you'd have to explain why everything but the endplate was painted. And then why would you run a wing out of any material other than the one you planned to use? I mean, the amount of flex is an important part of the design - I think a wing of a different material would have to have a different design.

But yes, I still can't figure out why they only ran it at the end of the day. That in itself never made sense. And then they claimed that it was a few degrees off, so had new ones somehow made overnight and shipped right in (boldly). And then didn't run them. I'm sure there's an explanation.

[Pup]

Plus I don't think that diffuser was titanium anyway. I seem to remember it was some sort of fire resistant alloy - at the time there was a link to the company that made the stuff.

edit - nevermind, it was titanium, but with a heat resistant ceramic coating on it which was why it was white.

[turbof1]

True.

So I was wrong about the material used. I also think that only the endplates and cascades were RP'd (no sence in painting the main plane and flaps, but not the rest).

[trinidefender]

Maybe it was simply done for identification purposes. Both new wings brought to Barcelona probably looked very similar and they painted them differently so the team would not get confused and accidentally run the wrong wing. Simple solution to what could be an annoying problem. Sounds like something McLaren would do.

[Pup]

Surely if that were the case someone would have suggested it before now.

[wesley123]

I find it quite plausible tbh. We dont know everything(remember, we missed the Sauber switch to the ramped exhaust for 2 race weekends) and neither do off track reporters. It might very well be something reporters just didnt bother and because of that didnt ask.

McLaren did such a thing before, when they introduced the bridge wing in Barcelona 2007, one spec had the silver(or chrome w/e) bridge wing and the other had it painted Red.

[Pup]

Does anyone read past the first page?

[stefan_]

Monaco 2013 - Thursday (23.05.2013)

[Thunder]

Monaco 2013 - Thursday (23.05.2013)

[Pup]

I'm cautiously optimistic after seeing the FP results and especially like this...

JB asks what lap times everyone’s doing. Informed he’s “competitive” to Rosberg and “looks good”

Of course, they've been more or less competitive to Merc on race day since day 1, just nowhere near in quallies. Still, could they have turned a corner?

[Racer X]

That's Sergio right? His Helmet looks like Buttons.... From this angle.

[Thunder]

According to the Filename its Jenson.

[stefan_]

That's Checo.