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 🙂
