ONLY SUCH SOPHISTICATED WIND TUNNELS CAN MIMIC THE COMPLEX INTER-ACTION BETWEEN A MOVING CAR AND THE ROAD SURFACE UPON WHICH IT RUNS
The McLaren F1’s dramatic aerodynamic features are derived from McLaren International’s long experience of trend-setting research in Formula 1. The f1 is thus the first production car to benefit from first-hand design by a fully experienced team of Formula 1-trained aerodynamicists utilising the latest in moving-ground wind tunnels.
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While most existing production cars are tested in fixed-floor tunnels in which the test-car’s wheels are stationary, every Formula 1 racing car designer knows that modern moving-ground wind tunnels provide the only accurate representation of actual-car aerodynamic behaviour. The McLaren F1 project has been developed, analysed and fine-tuned in the same moving-ground wind tunnel facility in Teddington, England, in which McLaren International’s World Championship-winning Formula 1 cars have been perfected. Only such sophisticated wind tunnels can mimic the complex aerodynamic inter-action between a moving car and the road surface upon which it runs.
Painstakingly-faithful 30 percent full-size models of projected F1 forms have been investigated within an airstream velocity of 44 metres per second. Balance forces generated within the model have been recorded and analysed from 70-point Scanivalve sensing. Ultra-violet paint streamlining and flow visualisation have been employed in one of the most comprehensive wind tunnel analyses ever applied to a production road car design programme.
