Quote:
Originally Posted by Casper
A constructor such as McLaren using a motor supplied by a separate manufacturer such as MB has nothing to do with the motor, they are not even allowed to start it and know nothing about it. Your Porsche example is pretty poor, Porsche had the problem, they were not responding to a problem others had. In fact MB had less problems in fact very few that Honda could have learnt from even if they had the opportunity which they did not.
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Know nothing about it? They have to build a car around it! That includes the transmission (not provided by Mercedes), cooling, electronics and various other bits. Yes, much is hidden away from the customers, but ALL details can't be hidden. Basically anything that is required for integration has to be provided to the teams design staff. Much could be covered by NDA, but other paths to answers exist. For example, just ask McLaren what the cooling capacity was for last years chassis from an aero perspective (inlet sizes, airflow numbers, etc). That will tell you the rough cooling requirement for the Mercedes PSU without resorting to Mercedes documents. This is because McLaren would have designed the smallest and tightest inlets and side pods they could get away with and that all would have be based upon data given to them by Mercedes. Look up "clean room design".
And you misunderstood my Porsche comment. Who cares to who or why they are responding? Internal or competitor, it doesn't matter. It is an example of being flexible and adjusting when course correction is needed. It is about being able to adjust on the fly when needed. Porsche did it, why couldn't Honda? (and maybe Honda did!)
This is a dead horse. I am going to stop beating it.
Richard