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Written by Ollie Marriage
Downforce isn"t beautiful. Up until this year we weren"t sure. Then the Senna arrived, its appearance mostly aquatic bottom feeder with a dash of kitchen implement, and it was settled. Downforce is ugly. But form follows function, and McLaren is good at function. And the function of the Senna is to go very fast indeed around a racetrack. And these days the equation between power and grip is only balanced by adding downforce. Eight hundred kilos of it in the case of the Senna. Now, delivering downforce is not difficult just fit a bigger wing, a longer splitter, a larger diffuser. But at that point road cars run headlong into regulations. Regulations that demand pedestrians can"t insert their heads into bits of bodywork, cut themselves on edges or have vital anatomical bits severed.
Date written: 26 Dec 2018
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 14400
Downforce isn"t beautiful. Up until this year we weren"t sure. Then the Senna arrived, its appearance mostly aquatic bottom feeder with a dash of kitchen implement, and it was settled. Downforce is ugly. But form follows function, and McLaren is good at function. And the function of the Senna is to go very fast indeed around a racetrack. And these days the equation between power and grip is only balanced by adding downforce. Eight hundred kilos of it in the case of the Senna. Now, delivering downforce is not difficult just fit a bigger wing, a longer splitter, a larger diffuser. But at that point road cars run headlong into regulations. Regulations that demand pedestrians can"t insert their heads into bits of bodywork, cut themselves on edges or have vital anatomical bits severed.
Date written: 26 Dec 2018
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 14400