MP4/18 suffers more problems...

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BebiF1

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This weekend at Britian the team announced that the MP4/18 had failed yet another impact test during that previous week. The car reportedly passed all tests except the side impact test. The car has four structures in each side that must absorb energy during an impact. The test calls for each structure to take no more than 35% of the energy from the impact. That way not one structure is responsible for the saftey of the driver. During that test one of those structures reportedly took 35.1% instead of the mandatory 35%. It was brushed off as a mere technacality. The "tub" or monoque that protects the driver came to no harm and came out 100% fine so these problems should be solved fairly soon. The team also says that it would be innappropriate to introduce the new car on the grid before the Italian Gp, so it looks like the car will still be on track at Italy.
 
yeah, that would be a mere technicality. Come on 18, I want to see what you got.
 
In addition to these structual failures, I have dug up some more bad news. I think we all know that the Mp4/18 has not yet been through a race distance and the reasons why are quite interesting. It seems that the car suffers from engine vibrations as well as "severe" overheating. McLaren's team boss Ron Dennis exclaims that they(McLaren) had over-estimated Ferrari's new challanger and took quantom leaps of their own in developing their new car to out pace Ferrari. It seems that these leaps were unnecessary and now they have a wasted project on their hands. Dennis also says that they should have labeled the current MP4/17D as the MP4/18 because it is basically a different car he says. Whitemarsh, some public affairs dude, said that if the MP4/18 is not shipped to Japan then it will not be raced, and be put aside for the next continder.
 
Originally posted by BebiF1@Jul 22 2003, 03:24 PM
said that if the MP4/18 is not shipped to Japan then it will not be raced
Click to expand...
no kiddin, is that so. haha.

SO the 17D, should be the 18, so all the 18 hype is the car already on the track and the 19 they said they were planning is the mystery 18. Holy crap, they played us like a fiddle.
 
I am not sure still. I think the 17D is should be called the 18. As for the actual 18, I think it has a slim chance of being used this year, and next year McLaren will roll out a brand new car different from the 17D and 18.

If we all remember last year and the situation with Jaguar. They rolled out their R3 and the Aero package was severly flawed and they used it for most of the season from Melbourne all the way up to like the Belgian GP before they reverted back a modified R2 chassis. They said that the R3 was a mistake and should have never hit the tracks. McLaren has done basically the same but instead of being dumb like Jag, they waited, caught their mistake and are still in the championship hunt. So they race the new car for a couple races, get good data off of it, and put it into a brand new car for next year that will light up the grid like Jag has almost done this year. Gotta admit, Jag has made a huge step forward from last year.
 
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