STW were wrong due to incorrect power assumptions, we worked on the old figure of ~900hp, current engines are apparently only good for ~750hp. 😆 Gutted, mis-information leading the way – that'll be a first in STW 🙂

I'd be fascinated to see their calcs actually.

Good on McLaren for answering.

I have managed to get tickets to their event at Brooklands on 8th Nov as well 🙂 we are very pro McLaren in our house now

they're still cowards.

(and i don't buy their answer that they don't have the down-force to produce enough grip against the wall

the sine of 85 degrees is 0.996, which means they only need to find 0.4% more grip)

(disclaimer; all my calculations are done with a scrap of paper, my phone, and about 30seconds scribbling)

willard – Member

Simple solution… Bottles of air. or a very big scoop to cram a lot of that thin air into the engine. Of course, that could add a bit to weight and drag, so you might need a bigger engine.

A bigger engine would need more air….

A turbo/supercharger is what you want 😉

But that'd still only work to a certain altitude.

It's threads like this that are what I love about STW. Well done chaps. 8)

85 degrees is pretty damned close to 90, but remember relationships between downdforce, power and grip are not linear, they're likely to be squares off the top of my head. Obviously a lot more power is eaten up in generating downforce than seems intuitive.

A bigger engine would need more air….

A turbo/supercharger is what you want

A small engine with a turbo needs more air too. In fact a 1 litre engine boosted to 1 bar needs approximately the same air as a 2 litre engine (though it is a lot lighter).

Top thread – and Top Marks to McLaren for coming back to you – bet they had a fun few minutes over morning coffee doing the workings on that. 😀

Yeh, I was pretty pleased that they came back & that we had come up with something they hadnt been asked before… & burning up their computer time to check it 🙂