Project 04

In preparing to start working on my active aero design ideas (see Air bender), I was looking for a suitable car model to download as a base to attach wings and servo motors to. Because my ideas were best suited to a high-aero car, my best options were either a formula/open-wheel or prototype build. Prototypes were more promising for their robust and filled-out shape, making 3D printing and subsequent mounting of components easier. I found a few good free models, but they were lacking style, and more critically they were all single un-editable solid part files. Rather than try and force them to work how I wanted, I decided I'd try and model my own car instead using Inventor, a CAD program not designed for modelling cars. That didn't matter though, as I was only after a simple shape: a slightly rounded rectangle with a hollowed out nose area that vents out the side. This didn't take long, and realising it had even less style than my original options, I put in a bit more effort over an extra day to make an improved version that actually looked like a car:

This was fundamentally better, but in a way almost worse. Instead of obviously being something that's only use was to be practical, it now looked like a design that someone put a bit of effort into then gave up. Some areas were promising, such as the front wheel housings and the sidepod/undercut design, but the rest was basic and boring. I could probably delay my project for 1 more day and make it look a little nicer, right?

I might have got carried away, because 1 week later I was finished. 

I considered designing to a specific ruleset such as LMH, but in the end it was a bit of a conglomerate of multiple eras and various styling cues that I liked. 

For the general proportions, shape, and formula, it is still essentially an LMH car, I'm a big fan of this particular category, but if I had one complaint it would be that they look a little too heavy and bulky. To remedy this, I've lowered the bodywork slightly, kept the higher wheel housings, and avoided blending the two together too much. This aspect is more akin to the previous few generations of LMP1 cars. The thin sidepod and deep undercut are not practical for fitting in a decent radiator, but these shapes already existed from my original basic design and I like how they look; rather similar to the 2022-2025 spec Formula 1 sidepod designs.

I also took inspiration from McLaren's plans to enter the LMH category, and turned my design into a concept car for the occasion by mixing and matching some ideas for the styling final touches. McLaren then revealed their LMH car at Le Mans 2025, less than a month after I finished my concept. 

Regarding McLaren styling, most obvious is the rear wing which is straight off the Senna GTR, then adjusted to fit the LMH style rear end. Then there's the lights: Senna GTR again, both front and rear. Also from the Senna are the shape and position of the front brake ducts, and oval overhead intake. Meanwhile, the exhausts are based on the W1, the shark fin incorporates the McLaren logo, the lower-inboard section of the front wheel housing angles outward like the Solus GT, and the shape of the vane behind the front wheel housing is similar to that found on the front of the P1.

Aerodynamics were considered in the design but I don't intend to test the car in CFD or otherwise, as that wasn't the point of this exercise. The only unrealistic design features in regards to aero are:

• The long thin unsupported shape of the rear of the shark-fin, which would be under some serious stress if the car saw large yaw angles at high speed. Worst case might see it needing to be fastened to the rear wing through a pivot point (most LMP1/LMH shark fins already do this, it just looks better free-floating).

• The lack of cockpit rear air extraction vents/openings, which was entirely down to me forgetting to model them at first and later deciding it wasn't worth the time going back and adding them.

At this point and with this much effort put in, I wanted to see my design in a better incarnation than Inventor's default lighting environment. So I decided with one week put aside that another week wouldn't matter either, so I set out to learn the basics of Blender. This also provided the opportunity to create a livery to enhance the McLaren connection.

So here we are. 

Obligatory teaser shots first of course. 

Now onto business, and a livery that I think works pretty well. I played around with some different greys, and while I think a darker grey or even black was a more aesthetically pleasing match for the "papaya", this lighter shade brought out the shape and style of the bodywork more.