Inspiration from F1: Design Secrets of the McLaren MP4/4

Unlike the McLaren MP4/4, current Formula 1 cars are like engineering jewellery. The cars are amazing, but given the resources and manpower used, they are becoming less relevant to us in the amateur paddock.

Thanks to reader Henry Milliner, I’m sharing a  video  on the design and running of the McLaren MP4/4. It’s a good film in its own right but hopefully you’ll enjoy listening to how they coped with the practicalities of racing on more limited resources. Some highlights to for you watch out for are described below.

”The phone call came in. Within 5 laps, we were 2 seconds quicker than anybody else. It was going to be a good season…”

The McLaren MP4/4

The McLaren MP4/4 was designed by Steve Nichols and his team, using hand-finished moulds and a lot of late nights. This film gives you a behind-the-scenes insight into how the car was designed and run.

Below are the bits that stuck out to me. Be sure to sign up to Ahead of the Curve and let me know what struck you too.

The Obsession with Light Weight

The obsession with light weight has remained constant. There is one comment where Steve Nichols shares a funny story about talking with the team’s Financial Director.

He says one minute he’s badgering this guy for more money so he can have lightweight beryllium alloy brake calipers.

Then, because they had managed to get the car 70 kg under the weight limit and lead ballast was going to take up too much space, the next minute he’s badgering the same financial director for super heavy tungsten alloy plate so they can ballast the car back up to make the weight limit.

The financial director didn’t get it, but of course, it’s not about the weight, its about where the weight is.

They reckoned that each 10mm drop in centre of gravity height was worth about 3/10ths of a second.

Don’t you love being able to quantify stuff!

Steve was therefore less happy about the 7kg of paint that was needed to give that car its distinct white and red finish.

”Good Integration” and Adrian Newey

You hear people talk about “good integration,” but what does that mean?

It’s something that Adrian Newey gets credited for a lot.

The issue is that the longer you wait to get things perfect, the bigger risk you are putting on everyone else being able to do their jobs in time.

However, in the film they discuss the fact that they changed engines from Porsche to Honda and held off the design until they had the engine.

The result was they discovered they could mount the engine lower, thus helping with the centre of mass again.

They were also able to nicely package the radiators and all the areas feeding the exhaust and turbo - which you get to see in great detail in the film.

They then created a new issue, as they went so low, thanks also to a new multi-plate clutch design, that the gearbox dropped, resulting in extreme drive shaft angles. So, they designed a different arrangement out of the gearbox to get these back up again.

Innovation at its best. It seems Lotus simply angled the engine up but that raised the centre of gravity so not as good.

Innovations in Steering and Suspension

With the suspension, the front suspension designer had a lot of fun trying to package it.

They used pull-rod suspension, but didn’t have space for the normal rocker.

What they came up with was a track design - the drawings of which you see in the film - that allowed the arm to pivot through the space that it would have done had it traveled on a rocker.

They also incorporated a rising rate suspension - where the wheel rate increases as it moves through the suspension stroke - which was novel at the time.

There are also comedic moments when they thought they had mixed up the left and right steering.

This is actually easier to do than you think, and my early designs of the Aston Martin DB9 had you turning left to go right and vice versa…

Qualifying Tyres

In the past, there were special one-lap only qualifying tires in the 90’s. In my tyre course, you can learn about how tyres actually grip the road.

These quali tyres were known to be very grippy, and as a result, they would stick to the floor.

One interesting story is that before mechanics figured out how to deal with this, they would bend push rods when trying to lift the car on jacks in the garage due to the tires sticking to the floor.

Clearly, this was not ideal.

The Importance of Teamwork and Relatability

One of the big messages in the video is about team work and how there was nowhere else these guys would rather be.

As amateur racers, this is something that we can relate to - the feeling of working all night to prep the car and the sense of camaraderie that comes with it.

Conclusion: An Inspiring Look at F1 Design and Development

All in all, this video is a great glimpse into the design and development process of one of the most successful F1 cars of all time.

I found it really inspiring, and I think you will too. Plus, it’s relatable to what we do as amateur racers, which is always a plus.

And if you’re interested in learning more about car setup, don’t forget to sign up to Ahead of the Curve.