McLaren/Virgin Racing tie up

[Glock and Roll]

How do you see the tie up between McLaren and Virgin Racing working out. What assistance do you think McLaren will provide in 2012?

Definite
-Use of technical facilities, simulators and wind tunnel - A cornerstone of the agreement I believe, helping Virgin move away from CFD. Which I think is fair to say hasn't really worked out at all.

Potential
-Possible use of McLaren gearbox - Similar to the agreements between Lotus/Red Bull and HRT/Williams?
-Possible use of McLaren KERS system - I read somewhere that the Virgin does not have a KERS system on the car. The extra 0.5-0.8 seconds a lap it provides would be a fantastic bonus.
-Gary Paffett to get 2nd Virgin seat - Paffett deserves a drive I believe and if he can match Glock than it could really put him in the shop window. Also I believe his testing experience with McLaren could be vital to the partnership working.
- Other Members of staff moving between the teams - McLaren engineering interns loaned to Virgin to cut their teeth lower down the grid to gain experience perhaps?

I really believe this deal could work well and think that Virgin could really make strides towards the lower midfield in 2012. What do you think?

 

[teabagyokel]

At some point Virgin are going to have to get their boots on and get into the midfield, and they're more likely to do with McLaren's support than Simtek's!

Welcome to the site!

 

[Galahad]

I have read that McLaren staff will definitely be going to Virgin.

As for the gearbox and the KERS, I suspect it rather depends on whether Richard Branson's pockets are as deep as Vijay Mallya's. Or to put it another way, whether his arms are shorter.

As far as drivers is concerned, I don't think McLaren have any drivers waiting in the wings who would be ready to move up to F1 in 2012. I'm afraid I think Paffett's chance is over, now.

The use of the facilities will provide a handy boost to them, though. All three tail-end teams ought to be more competitive next year, if their plans come to fruition, which they often don't.

 

[RasputinLives]

I don't think Paffett will get a drive - I think he's bit old for a rookie now and Mclaren would miss him too much as a test driver.

Maybe Oliver Turvey if they're going to take anyone.

Be interesting to see If the Mclaren input does push Virgin up the field. With HRT getting new investors and Fernandes continuing to throw money at Lotus we could have seen them very much on their own at the back next year.

I'm wondering if we might not see Virgin race in 2014 with a Mclaren made engine badged as something else. Would make sense for Mclaren to use them as the guinea pig for their own engine to iron out all the faults before entering it for their own team.

 

[Grizzly]

I'm wondering if we might not see Virgin race in 2014 with a Mclaren made engine badged as something else. Would make sense for Mclaren to use them as the guinea pig for their own engine to iron out all the faults before entering it for their own team.

Good thinking.

 

[siffert_fan]

While it should prove a boon to Virgin, my concern is that it will divert some of the McLaren resources which are needed for McLaren to overtake the Bulls

 

[Grizzly]

McLaren are in a position of having too many resources though. They have to cut back to the RRA over time, so moving some junior staff to Virgin is a great way of achieving that.... i imagine

 

[Bill Boddy]

Let us just suppose that there were to be a spending limit of say £50M. There are two teams, team A who have £25M to spend, whilst team B have £75M to spend. Team B now decides to support team A, so they transfer £25M of staff and research charges to team A.

There is still a spending cap, but team B have managed to legally spend £75M. You know it makes sense (Margaret Thatcher).

 

[Slyboogy]

-Possible use of McLaren gearbox - Similar to the agreements between Lotus/Red Bull and HRT/Williams?
-Possible use of McLaren KERS system - I read somewhere that the Virgin does not have a KERS system on the car. The extra 0.5-0.8 seconds a lap it provides would be a fantastic bonus.

0.8s? I thought it was within the range of 0.3-0.5s depending on what track?

It surely will help Virgin building their car based on CFD was a bad move, and they finally ditched it...