Originally Posted by
Matra et Alpine
Remeber what was said LONG time ago .... drag increases exponentially.
So there are always limiting points ... so for example a car with static downforce will likely have high drag at the higher speeds and so the forces at the contact patch are MUCH higher and hence slip will occur.
Cars like the Veyron and Porsche CGT have dynamic aero to be abel to reduce the drag and adjust the downforce to optimise across wider range of speeds and so limit the lip potentially.
I tihnk if you do the math on all those you'll find them significatn -- tho' I concur that quic mental estimate finds it difficult to see >10% that you're witnessing.
The only thing that might explain this anomaly is clutch slip, but if the clutch slips this much it won't last 2 minutes. Drag is irrelevant as this is more a theoretical issue.
His calculations show that the gearing of the McLaren allow for a theoretic top speed of 459 km/h at 7500 rpm. Of course this is not possible because of the aforementioned issues with drag. All that is irrelevant though because Andy Wallace indicated he hit the limiter at 380 km/h. Do you really think that the clutch would slip to the extend that it would loose 80 km/h of top speed?
So either McLaren changed the gearing or their numbers are wrong. That was the poster's point / question.
If you should see a man walking down a crowded street talking aloud to himself, don't run in the opposite direction, but run towards him, because he's a poet. You have nothing to fear from the poet - but the truth.
(Ted Joans)