Mercedes W12

[Zynerji]

I always wondered why these outlets are not designed with laminar flow "nozzle" consideration.

Maybe max flow with less drag is just more efficient.

I wonder if they try to get them to act as extractors - using the airflow along the outside of the bodywork to pull the cooling air through the car. As you say, getting more air through is perhaps more important than minimum drag - this is an area of the car that is already pretty drag-inducing anyway, so perhaps any drag gains would be so small as to be lost in the "noise".

If they had shark gills, the air passing over them would act as an extractor.

[El Scorchio]

As they've opted against revealing parts of the car thus far and not even doing a shakedown until testing, do we think they might be hiding something really significant?

[Just_a_fan]

I always wondered why these outlets are not designed with laminar flow "nozzle" consideration.

Maybe max flow with less drag is just more efficient.

I wonder if they try to get them to act as extractors - using the airflow along the outside of the bodywork to pull the cooling air through the car. As you say, getting more air through is perhaps more important than minimum drag - this is an area of the car that is already pretty drag-inducing anyway, so perhaps any drag gains would be so small as to be lost in the "noise".

If they had shark gills, the air passing over them would act as an extractor.

I wonder if the over-large suspension arm openings in the rear bodywork don't also have that effect. They're certainly larger than is required for the movement of the suspension arms themselves. Air passing over the hole pulls air out and then the rear-most hole can be smaller. If all of the suspension holes were small/sealed, all of the air coming in to the radiator openings at the front would have to leave via the rear-most openings. In a zone where flow is likely to be suboptimal, injecting air via the suspension openings might just keep it all attached in the rear of the bodywork.

[zibby43]

As they've opted against revealing parts of the car thus far and not even doing a shakedown until testing, do we think they might be hiding something really significant?

They definitely appear to think they have something at the rear of the floor/rear of the car in general with respect to the '21 reg changes. Also interesting that they were coy about where they spent their tokens. When was the last time in the hybrid era that Merc opted to conduct their filming day *after* testing?

Toto said they didn't want to be out standing around in freezing rain in Silverstone, but the British winter weather never stopped them before.

Also, a fresh image of the cockpit area just dropped. Nice little view of the serrated mirror stalk attachments plus the new, thinner profile of the bottom portion of the side pod entrance:

[DarthPlagueisTheVise]

Merc doing something similar to what rb did last year with the channels on the fw ?

[wesley123]

I agree that in the studio they can set ride heights to whatever they want. However I wouldn’t be surprised to see them shift slightly higher than last year when they hit the track. The changes to the regulations are likely to cause greater losses at lower RRHs where floor area is more dominant.

Why would it affect lower ride heights more? If anything, one would think the opposite is true, since the slots that were present that dealt with tire squirt are gone. Considering a higher ride height more of the tire would be exposed and thus more of the wheel wake would directly interfere with the floor and diffuser.

[dans79]

I agree that in the studio they can set ride heights to whatever they want. However I wouldn’t be surprised to see them shift slightly higher than last year when they hit the track. The changes to the regulations are likely to cause greater losses at lower RRHs where floor area is more dominant.

Why would it affect lower ride heights more? If anything, one would think the opposite is true, since the slots that were present that dealt with tire squirt are gone. Considering a higher ride height more of the tire would be exposed and thus more of the wheel wake would directly interfere with the floor and diffuser.

I'd agree with that. Generally speaking the higher the ride height the harder it is to seal the floor all other things being equal.

[zibby43]

I agree that in the studio they can set ride heights to whatever they want. However I wouldn’t be surprised to see them shift slightly higher than last year when they hit the track. The changes to the regulations are likely to cause greater losses at lower RRHs where floor area is more dominant.

Why would it affect lower ride heights more? If anything, one would think the opposite is true, since the slots that were present that dealt with tire squirt are gone. Considering a higher ride height more of the tire would be exposed and thus more of the wheel wake would directly interfere with the floor and diffuser.

I'd agree with that. Generally speaking the higher the ride height the harder it is to seal the floor all other things being equal.

It's going to be interesting. Diffuser performance is going to be significantly affected by the '21 regs. The tire squirt tools at the rear of the floor are gone, a chunk of the floor has been cut, and the diffuser strakes are getting cut down.

In general, you would think that Mercedes will be able to cope with the changes. Although a higher-rake car has more peak downforce potential with respect to diffuser performance, Mercedes has a longer (and thus, larger) floor area to work the air headed toward the diffuser by virtue of their longer car.

The long wheelbase, low-rake car isn't as peaky in terms of pure downforce/diffuser potential, but it is very stable/consistent and generally provides outstanding performance in high-speed corners.

[PlatinumZealot]

The squirters are still allowed.
The slots are not though.

[outer_bongolia]

It does look like the W12 is running more rake than the W11?

I think every launch thread for every car in the past decade has had the same comment lol

It's usually because shiny floors make the car look higher off the ground.

Also the decreasing floor width should create an illusion of a higher rake.

[Manoah2u]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Evobqq7XMAA ... name=large

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Evoxdo9XIAM ... ame=medium

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Evk_bj-WgAU ... name=large

good lord heavens that is a beautiful car

[zibby43]

The squirters are still allowed.
The slots are not though.

The lateral (directly ahead of the rear tires) slots used for tire squirt management are prohibited for '21. (All banned features highlighted in yellow below.)

Those slots were used to defeat tire squirt, as they released the excess air pressure induced around the edges of the floor caused by tire rotation.

[zibby43]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Evobqq7XMAA ... name=large

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Evoxdo9XIAM ... ame=medium

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Evk_bj-WgAU ... name=large

good lord heavens that is a beautiful car

And we get to see the entirety of the car (floor included) running in anger in just a few short days.

[NathanOlder]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Evobqq7XMAA ... name=large

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Evoxdo9XIAM ... ame=medium

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Evk_bj-WgAU ... name=large

good lord heavens that is a beautiful car

And we get to see the entirety of the car (floor included) running in anger in just a few short days.

How can you lie like this ?! these few days are NOT short!!! surely the longest days of the year

[El Scorchio]

good lord heavens that is a beautiful car

And we get to see the entirety of the car (floor included) running in anger in just a few short days.

How can you lie like this ?! these few days are NOT short!!! surel the longest days of the year

It's like those few days leading up to Christmas Day, isn't it...