Ponty

Ok, bear with me here because there's some supposition here, some dodgy terms, some 2nd hand info and probably a guess or two that's way off (and a few graphics would help) but the gist of it is this... The upper rear wing of the cars has to comprise of a maximum of two separate elements, and a separate element is broadly defined as an aerodynamic piece which spans the end fences with an open face greater than a given distance (something like 6 inches, I believe). This means that you can only have two wing-shaped pieces, wholly open to airflow, on the rear wing itself. What McLaren have done is to create a third element which is fully separate on the trailing edge but is part of the top element on the leading edge, except for a slot in the centre. This means that the two wings are essentially one, but air can pass over almost the entire lower surface of the uppermost wing (this is the important bit) once it has passed through the slot. In itself that's not such a biggie, most teams have, at one time or another, messed about with slotted wings in this way but no advantage has really been found from it I suppose. Anyway, McLaren have coupled the rear wing to the "Shark fin" type engine cover which, unlike most, is ducted from the chassis itself, over the engine and to the end of the fin which, in turn, is joined to the rear wing in front of the slot. Reason why that is advantageous to follow. On the top of the chassis, infront of the driver there is a scoop (there's one on many cars, including Robert's R30), and it's primary use is to funnel cool air into the c*ckpit area for driver 'comfort'. I say comfort but it can still nudge about 50/60 degrees in there in the desert. Anyway, I digress, what McLaren have done is exited the air into the c*ckpit to one side and the driver is able to cover the vent with his knee forcing the air along further ducting , out of the back of the chassis, up over the engine and out of the shark fin to pass through the sandwiched wing elements. The fast-moving air passing over the bottom surface of the wing causes it to stall as it negates the action of the air passing over the top surface of the wing. Normally stall is the last thing you want as it completely removes the downforce generated by the wing, however, at maximum speed on the straight you don't want any downforce because downforce equals drag and slows the car down. So stalling the rear wing and removing the downforce generated should free up the missing MPH, somewhere into double figures in fact. Getting the wing to stall would appear to be pretty easy. The clever part is getting it to stall when you want to and be effective at giving downforce when you don't and this is where the Macca designers have to be credited with thinking outside the box. Personally I think it's a tad outside the spirit of the regulations prohibiting active aerodynamic devices and the rules concerning holes in the chassis which should only be used for cooling and/or the passing through of cables, etc, but the Stewards have cleared it so that's that. Regardless, we matched their top speed on the straights in free practice today so any advantage they have appears small on the face of it, but I guess the real test is tomorrow in qualifying.

We saw the same thing with fuel levels last year, Ari'. Plenty of teams surprised themselves into the top ten then bogged the car down with fuel for Q3, sacrificing track position for a one-stopper.

There's only intent in one of those scenarios, Stu.

Drummer and guitarist, eh? You need Squiddly Diddly... Seriously, best of luck. Stick some ads up in the music venues around town.

In this dream of yours; were you at the match or reading the matchday thread on here?

Hang on, Stu, if a squaddie beats someone to the ground, then robs them of all they've got on them, it makes f** all difference if they had a pocketful of shrapnel or a money belt stuffed with fifties. The intent to rob is the same. I find it highly unlikely that they backed someone up against a wall and said, "Gimme sixty pence or I'll kick your head in!" Think it through, ffs.

Do you really want to know?

It's the set they complete their fastest lap on. I got clarification today.

Perhaps they'll move us nearer to Oxford... That'd work for me.

Yes, in theory anyway. No one I've asked seems to be sure whether "the same tyres" means the ones you set your fastest lap on or the ones you're wearing at the end of qualifying, because if it's the latter there's nothing to stop you doing a balls-out lap for quali then coming in for a pitstop and just doing an out-in lap to finish up on the tyres you want.

Ok, guys, I think this has meandered sufficiently to warrant a place in The Lounge now.

But, Hamster, why not them, at least as a starting point?

No, I'm not, and I don't know any either. I just appreciate some sort of "Police" presence in the cities, especially in this age of declining numbers of Bobbies on the beat, and I wouldn't begrudge them that small benefit for doing the job. Seeing as the shortfall will cost the other 200 thousand odd Southampton citizens about a quid a year it seems such a small price.

Mate, being a special is not comparable to selling chunky-knit sweaters in Oxfam or serving soup in polystyrene cups to the homeless. When a shoplifter comes steaming out of a shop and runs into a pair of Specials he doesn't take the time to thoroughly check their epaulettes for signs of their actual status, he just sends them flying. You don't get too much aggro in a Scope shop or a Sally Army canteen, I'll wager. A grand or so a year is **** all of a price to pay to have a bit of extra presence on the streets. It should be a Nationwide initiative, IMO.

Nice, ESB, but that doesn't really address my point.

Other noticeable changes include. Skinnier front tyres. No KERS (FOTA agreement - regs allow for it). Top ten qualifiers start the race on the tyres they qualified on.

Say I never fit a new socket, or whatever, in my house but there's a fire. How would one go about proving that any of the fixtures were already in place before the house was purchased? I couldn't. To my mind, that makes the whole system unworkable.

So has the WUO/Admin/HMRC case been actually dropped or are Sky just acting on a "scoop" from the Administrator?

I happen to have it on good authority that even if we lose at Wembley we will still have a bus parade to celebrate being the Southern Area Final Winners.

What route are you taking? Do you know yet?

Christonabike, that's terrible.

Beckham walked off with one around his neck tonight.

Possibly. Do you live in a caravan?

I'm not sure I understand, or care, anymore. I said this 12,000 posts ago, btw, and it seems to have come to fruition. http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/forum/showpost.php?p=584620&postcount=8738

No streetview on my road