Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

New Zealander Bruce McLaren raced for the Cooper F1 team for eight years, winning three GPs. He built his own F1 car in 1966, and after a low-key start his team grew more competitive. Bruce scored its first victory in 1968, but he was killed testing a sportscar in 1970. The team lived on under the direction of American Teddy Mayer. Team McLaren subsequently won titles with Emerson Fittipaldi ('74) and James Hunt ('76), before a decline set in. In late 1980 sponsor Marlboro engineered a merger with a new team being set up by F2 entrant Ron Dennis. With Honda power McLaren was utterly dominant from 1988-'91, thanks to Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna. After another slump in the 90s, McLaren returned to the top in 1998 as Mika Hakkinen took the team's 10th World Championship, before going on to repeat his success the following year. When the Finn retired he was replaced by countryman Kimi Raikkonen who came close in both 2003 and 2005, but suffered with reliability problems. Last year Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton joined the team and became involved in an amazing fight that culminated with the Spaniard leaving the team at the end of the year. He is replaced in 2008 by Heikki Kovalainen.

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes presented the MP4-23, the team’s 2008 Formula 1 car, at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart.

Dr. Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Daimler Board, and Ron Dennis, Chairman and CEO of the McLaren Group, welcomed all the guests to the official presentation, with Lewis Hamilton, who celebrated his 23rd birthday at the event, and Heikki Kovalainen joined on stage by Pedro de la Rosa and fellow test driver Gary Paffett to unveil the MP4-23. The car was completed just before the event and left the McLaren Technology Centre in the UK at around 18:00 GMT on Sunday and was driven in a Mercedes-Benz Actros to the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart-Untertürkheim, having covered approximately 1000 kms, arriving around 10:00 this morning.

Upon arrival in Stuttgart, the car was transported to the 53,000 sqm Mercedes-Benz Museum, one of the world’s largest and most renowned car museums. About 700 Mercedes-Benz employees from the nearby manufacturing plant Stuttgart-Untertürkheim had the opportunity to attend today’s event at the end of their early shift alongside the more than 400 media and other guests. The Mercedes-Benz employees had the opportunity to enter a draw of which the lucky winners were able to meet and spend some time with Lewis and Heikki.

Following the event, the car was transported to the Circuito de Jerez in Southern Spain, where Heikki and Pedro started the test program with two MP4-23 chassis at a private test. The team remained at the circuit for five track days, excluding the weekend.

Mercedes-Benz In Formula 1 2008
Following the 2007 Formula One espionage controversy the MP4-23 was subject to FIA inspection before the start of the 2008 season, to determine if any Ferrari intellectual property was on the car. After an admission that the Ferrari information was disseminated more widely thorughout the team than was originally thought and apology by McLaren on 13 December 2007, and a pledge that measures would be taken to rectify the situation, the FIA decided that there was no need for a formal hearing and the matter was considered closed.

Revisions from the McLaren MP4-22 include a longer wheel-base, the removal of the "bullhorns" from the airbox and a new rear wing which differs both in main profile and its endplates

The Formula 1 engine regulations for the 2008 World Championship season represent a continuation of the basic rules which were introduced for 2006 based round the fresh concept of 2.4-litre 90-degree V8 power units succeeding the 3-litre V10 engine regulations which had been in force for 11 years.

The new Vodafone McLaren Mercedes MP4-23 will be powered by the Mercedes-Benz FO 108V, which has evolved from last year's engine. However, under exacting rules in place since 2007 the engine specification has now been homologated by the FIA to a substantially fixed level, which will be frozen until the end of the 2010 season. The final specification of the new FO108V engine has been based on the FO108T, which was very reliable, as reflected by the fact Vodafone McLaren Mercedes did not experience any engine failures during the 17 race weekends which made up the 2007 season.

New to the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes MP4-23, as well as to any other cars competing in the 2008 Formula 1 World Championship, will be a standardised Electronic Control Unit (ECU) for powertrain control and data logging. This ECU has been developed by McLaren Electronic Systems together with its Technical Partner Microsoft on behalf of the FIA and must run FIA-approved software. One of the main technical features of the new ECU is the elimination of all driver aids, including traction control, which allowed maximum traction without wheel spin. Without traction control the driver’s abilities to control the car become even more significant.

Other engine regulations have remained unchanged. The 19,000rpm operating limit for the engines has been effective since 2007. Since then, basically anything which is inside the FIA seals cannot be changed, but ancillaries outside, for example the fuel system, airbox or other elements of the engine which will affect its packaging in the chassis can be altered. So there is still a degree of scope within which Vodafone McLaren Mercedes can operate from the standpoint of engine development. Also the rule requiring one engine to be used on two consecutive race weekends remains in place for the 2008 season.

The present engine rules place tight restrictions on the manufacturers in terms of dimensions, materials and components. Mandatory are: the V-angle of the cylinders (90 degrees) and the use of a maximum of two inlet and exhaust valves each; an engine minimum weight of 95 kilograms; a maximum cylinder bore of 98 millimetres; the position of the engine's centre of gravity and crankshaft centre-line. Alloys for the manufacturing of engine components are also defined tightly and specifically.

Norbert Haug, Vice President Mercedes-Benz Motorsport: "The development process of the new Mercedes-Benz FO 108V V8 engine for the 2008 Formula 1 World Championship started on 16th April 2007 and on 29th November the engine’s first run on the dyno took place. The FO 108V has a good heritage as our 2007 engine was running without any failure throughout the season. The engine rules restrict the possibilities for further development to an absolute minimum and there is only a small scope for exploiting a performance edge with regard to improvements from air intake, fuel injection, exhaust system, lubricant from our partner ExxonMobil and auxiliaries which our specialists have been pursuing energetically. Vodafone McLaren Mercedes’ target for 2008 is very clear we want to do one better than last year.”

Chassis
McLaren moulded carbon fibre/aluminium honeycomb composite incorporating front and side impact structures. Contains integral safety fuel cell
Bodywork Construction: One-piece engine cover; seperate side pod covers. Separate floor section, structural nose with integral front wing.

Engine & Management Unit

• Type : Mercedes-Benz FO 108V
• Capacity : 2.4 litre
• No. of cylinders: 8
• Max. rpm : 19,000 (FIA regulatory limit since 2007)
• Bank angle : 90°
• Piston bore maximum : 98 mm (FIA regulation)
• Number of valves : 32
• Fuel : Mobil 1 Unleaded (5.75% bio fuel)
• Lubricants: Mobil 1, newly developed 2008 formula for lower friction and better wear resistance
• Engine: 95kg (minimum FIA regulation weight)
• Electronics: McLaren Electronic Systems control units incorporating electronics for chassis, engine and data acquisition. McLaren Electronic Systems also supplies the electronic dash board, alternator voltage control, sensors, data analysis and telemetry systems

Transmission

• Gearbox Speeds: McLaren, 7 forward speeds + 1 reverse Semi-automatic
• Semi-auto: Yes
• Driveshafts: McLaren
• Clutch: Hand-operated
• Fuel Mobil 1 Unleaded (5.75% bio fuel)
• Mobil 1 Lubricants, newly developed 2008 formula for lower friction and better wear resistance

Suspension

• Front : Inboard torsion bar/damper system operated by pushrod and bell crank with a double wishbone arrangement
• Rear : Inboard torsion bar/damper system operated by pushrod and bell crank with a double wishbone arrangement
• Suspension Dampers: Koni

Wheels & Tyre

• Tyres: Bridgestone Potenza
• Radios: Kenwood
• Race Wheels : Enkei
• Brake Calipers and Brake Master Cylinders: Akebono
• Batteries: GS Yuasa Corporation
• Steering: McLaren power-assisted
• Instruments: McLaren Electronic Systems

MP4-23 FACT FILE

• The first design meeting for the MP4-23 took place back in November 2006 with early layout work starting in March 2007.
• Wind tunnel work commenced in late May 2007
• Since then the MP4-23 has spent over 3000 hours being developed in the wind tunnel
• The first MP4-23 chassis was ready for bonding in mid November 2007
• Lewis Hamilton, Pedro de la Rosa and Gary Paffett had their provisional seat fittings for the MP4-23 back in September 2007. Heikki Kovalainen was fitted for his seat shortly after being announced as a Vodafone McLaren Mercedes driver
• The car build process for chassis 1 began in early December 2007 and was finished in early January 2008
• Throughout the development process 150 different engineers have been involved in the whole project in all disciplines
• 14000 engineering man hours have so far been put into the MP4-23 development project
• A similar number applies to the manufacturing man hours involved to produce the MP4-23 in time for its track debut on the 9th January 2008
• Between its track debut in the second week in January and the season opening race in Melbourne on 16th March the MP4-23 clocked up an impressive 14,275km’s over 21 days of on track intensive development
• All four Vodafone McLaren Mercedes drivers contributed to the preseason development both on track and at the McLaren Technology Centre. Lewis completed a total of 5,553km on track mileage over 15 days; Heikki, 6,309km over 18 days; Pedro, 2,213km over six days and Gary, 200km over one day

FACTS AND FIGURES
The following information has been compiled in response to some of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes' most frequently asked questions.

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes…

• began initial wind tunnel work on MP4-23 in May 2007.
• sends between 95 (fly-away races) and 135 (European races) personnel to each Grand Prix.
• has a race team which comprises: race team manager, senior race engineer, chief mechanic, software engineer, race strategist, two driver engineers, two assistant engineers, two system engineers, two data analysts, 10 mechanics, two gearbox mechanics two fabricator/carbon repairmen, engine dress, chief truckie, two tyre men, electrician, two support crew, security, senior fuel technician, fuel technician, spares co-ordinator, team co-ordinator.
• used a total of six chassis throughout the 2007 season.
• transports approximately 30 tonnes of freight, including three complete race cars at approximately 600kg to each grand prix.
• takes three spare gearboxes to each race, two built with rear suspension and one loose unit.
• takes eight engines to each race, one in each of the three cars, two additional for Friday practice sessions and three spares for the rest of the weekend.
• completed 29,864 kilometres when testing during 2007.
• completed 23,893 kilometres when racing in 2007, including Practice, Qualifying and Races.
• generated 100 gigabytes of data during all race meetings and 300 gigabytes of data at all tests in the 2007 season.
• competes with a car that typically handles 3,000 gear changes during a race. This figure varies from circuit to circuit with the highest number occurring at the Monaco Grand Prix where the gears can be changed up to 4,000 times during the race and the lowest in Indianapolis where the driver changes gear approximately 2,000 times.
• competes with a car that is typically capable of the following performance:
• o 0-60mph / 0 - 96kph 2.3 seconds.
• o 0-100mph / 0 - 160kph 3.6 seconds.
• o 0-100-0mph / 0 -160 - 0kph 6.6 seconds.
• and can decelerate from 185mph to a standstill in 3.5 seconds.
• was supplied 2,856 tyres in total for the 17 Grand Prix weekends in 2007. (1,904 dry-weather tyres and 952 wet-weather tyres) and takes 160 Enkei wheel rims to each race.
• Was supplied 1200 tyres for testing outside of races.
• generate 4,600 drawings to create the 11,000 components that make up each car.
• drivers are subjected to forces of up to 5G under braking.
• conducted 1,263 practice pit-stops throughout the course of the 2007 season.
• takes approximately seven seconds for a pit stop, with 29 crew working on each car, to refuel and to change four wheels and tyres, and the cars can be refuelled at a rate of 12 litres per second.

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