GP4: 1996 McLaren MP4/11 walkaround part 2

The McLaren MP4/11 was powered by the Mercedes engine, their second season with their new partners that would last through to 2014 and enjoy many competitive seasons. But 1996 was a rebuilding period. New driver, David Coulthard revealed in the recent F1 podcast that he signed for McLaren just before Christmas of 1994, having signed for Williams earlier the same day for 1995.

We must get back to talking about the car as we delve into the details on this GP4 creation.

The front wing is Eugenio's work and on the endplate I added the indent near the bottom. It's quite a simple and basic wing that McLaren ran for the season, there's not even a bend on the front plane. The nose on the 1996 is much more sleek and slimmer than the 1995 car, with a nice single keel solution to mount the front lower suspension wishbones.

You can see from the wireframe how the top of the nose has lots of polygons to make the smooth shape, which towards the front of the car is quite flat. I added the 3D body lines on the nose and the suspension cover. I also added suspension wishbone connection points to the bespoke suspension.

McLaren's side headrest solution was unique to them in that it creates a channel either side of the rollover bar. Getting the body lines around this smooth shape was difficult. The mirrors are asymmetrical, presumably to reduce the turbulent air generated, by having the smooth shape facing the direction of the oncoming airflow.

Moving into the cockpit, and I was able to find some reasonably good photos to re-create the dashboard and some of the buttons along each side.

In case you missed it, here was part 1 https://fongugp4.blogspot.com/2019/04/gp4-1996-mclaren-mp411-walkaround-part-1.html.

Stay tuned for part 3 tomorrow.