The P1 Hypercar: A Marvel of Engineering and Biomimicry

One of the most prolific designers in the car world, Mr. Frank Stephenson, has used biomimicry as a foundation for his design philosophy. His latest creation, the McLaren P1, is a testament to this approach. The P1's design was inspired by the world's fastest fish, the sailfish, with two distinct aspects of its design influencing the car.

The sailfish's scales played a significant role in improving engine performance. By shrinking down the design of the scales and molding them into the inside of the ducts that led into the engine, McLaren was able to increase the volume of air going into the engine by 17%. This may seem like a small change, but it has a significant impact on performance.

When testing the P1, drivers were getting a lot of wind noise along the eight pillars. The reason for this was due to the mirror arm holding the mirror needing a fairly large arm coming off the body of the car. To solve this problem, Frank and his team turned to the sailfish again, this time using its elongated teardrop shape to help mitigate wind noise.

The sailfish's torso meets its tail fan feature two bumps that have an amazing property - they adhere to the golden ratio of 1.618, also known as the Fibonacci spiral. This spiral is a mathematical principle that appears in many natural forms and is often associated with efficiency and elegance. Frank's team used this principle to design a solution for reducing wind noise.

By placing five of these double-bump shaped mirrors on the P1's arm, the wind noise was completely eliminated. The mirrors not only solved the problem but also became an integral part of the car's design. This innovative approach has been adopted by McLaren in other models as well, including the 12C.

The sailfish may seem like an unlikely inspiration for a hypercar, but its unique features have provided McLaren with valuable insights into improving performance and efficiency. As Frank Stephenson puts it, "If you're in Miami and you see a taxidermied fish for sale, put it on the company card." This approach to biomimicry has led to some remarkable innovations in car design.

Thanks to Frank Stephenson and his team at McLaren, we have gained insight into how nature can inspire innovation. By embracing this approach, car manufacturers can create vehicles that are not only fast and efficient but also elegant and sustainable. The future of car design is looking bright, and biomimicry will likely play a significant role in shaping it.

Biomimicry in action: Frank Stephenson's designs

* The McLaren P1's engine ducts were inspired by the sailfish's scales to increase air volume and improve performance.

* The P1's mirror arm was designed using the sailfish's elongated teardrop shape to mitigate wind noise.

* Five double-bump shaped mirrors were placed on the P1's arm to eliminate wind noise completely.

By embracing biomimicry, car manufacturers can create innovative solutions that improve performance and efficiency. The McLaren P1 is a prime example of this approach in action.

Biomimicry in nature: Exploring the Golden Ratio

The golden ratio, also known as 1.618, is a mathematical principle that appears in many natural forms. It's often associated with efficiency and elegance, and its presence can be seen in various aspects of nature.

In nature, the Fibonacci spiral (a sequence of numbers where each number is the sum of the two preceding numbers) is often used to create efficient shapes. This spiral is also closely related to the golden ratio.

The use of biomimicry in car design has led to some remarkable innovations, including:

* Improved engine performance

* Reduced wind noise

Biomimicry has become an essential tool for car manufacturers seeking to improve their designs and create more efficient vehicles.

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- Using the shape of animalsto create pleasing, aestheticlooking cars is nothing new.Some of the most beautifulcars ever designedare shaped off of some ofour friends in the wild,the Mini Cooper and its bulldog squat,the Volkswagen beetle,and my favorite car ofall times the Dodge Viper.The looks, they are so superficial.(bells chiming)So I wanted to know,how do designers andengineers mimic animalsto build better functioning cars?So today I'm gonna speak tothe communications directorof the Biomimicry Institute,and talk to Sisi Liu ofMetalmark Innovations.I'm gonna talk to a companythat's using mantis shrimpto build stronger and lightercarbon fiber chassies.And as a bonus, why not chatwith one of my favorite car designers,Mr. Frank Stephenson?The man behind the designof Escort RS Cosworth,the Ferrari F430, Maserati NC12,the Mini Cooper, the McLaren P1.(upbeat music)- A big thank you to Eibachfor sponsoring today's video.As you travel great distancesinto the boundless abyss of the unknown,warm pavement transitionsinto cool gravel.Gravel transitions intorocks, rocks into boulders.Can you handle it?Will your suspension take you higheror will it give up in this very moment,sending you into a U-turn of a lifewith your truck's complacent suspension?Do you hear those whispers?The whispers of automotive prowess?(man speaks dramatically)Built on a racing legacyfrom Lamar to Daytonaand now to Baja.Roll over complacencywith your iBox suspensionand become enlightened.What do you think Job?- Honestly, James I have noidea what you're talking about,but I do know yoursuspension is the first thingthat you should do.And one of the biggest andbest out there is Eibach.The legacy they've builtwithin the industryis now expanding to off-road suspension.They have a new line of nitrogen charged,pro truck coilovers thatare gonna be perfect for meand Jerry's GXs.They developed this exactsuspension with a ton of feedbackfrom the GX community,and their plug and play systemworks with stock components.So that's gonna make yourlife a hell of a lot easieron install, but it'seven better on the road.I for one, I've alwaysbeen a big fan of Eibachand it's really cool that we're gettingto work with them now,and I'm so excited toput this stuff on my GX.- In order to learn moreabout iBox product rangeand their new off-road suspension,click the link in the description below,or just go to eibach.com.See you on the trail, Job.(man humming)- Designing a car's aestheticbased on the shape of animalsis a pretty common thing.But like we said at the start of this,looks aren't all that matters.So what if we were totake the lessons learnedfrom billions of years of evolutionand mimic it to engineerother aspects of a car,outside of its looks?Well, that's where Biomimicry comes in.- Biomimicry can be used inso many different industries.I mean, let's talkabout a morpho butterflythat actually doesn'thave pigments or dyes,it uses structural color.There's an easy examplein a photovoltaic panel.You know, we're looking athow to translate the waythat a plant takes energyfrom the sun that we can use.- This is Lex Amore, and sheis the communication's directorof the Biomimicry Institute.Biomimicry it's the scienceof how nature approachesthe design of organisms.So by studying how nature works,we can take what we learnand apply to applicationsthat benefit us two legged animals.And to be honest is kindof an obvious thing to do.Animals have had years of evolutionto work out all the kinks.- This concept of findinginspiration in the strategiesthat have developed overEarth's 3.85 billion yearsof research and development.So the species that are alive today,hold the blueprints toour design challenges.- So if we know that studying naturecan give us some insightinto building better things,how does that translateinto the auto industry?Well, I got to sit down with the CEOof Heela chord industries,a company responsiblefor bringing us somesuper strong carbon fiber,thanks to the mantis shrimp.Now the club on the mantis shrimp,produces the fastest punchin the animal kingdom.It's moving about 50 miles an hour,50 times faster thanyour human eye can blink.And it produces forces right at 8,000 G,fast enough to rip waterapart, causing it to capitate.So it's pretty easy to see thatif the structure of this shrimp's clubweren't designed towithstand these forces,it wouldn't survive.And by taking a look at theshrimp's club on a smaller scaleyou can see here, this chord structure,the building blocks of thematerial in the shrimp's clubrotate as it builds up.This unique Helicoidarchitecture is strongerand tougher than any other knownbio structure in the world.- Yeah, so the mantis shrimp is oneof the most dynamic organismson the entire planet'cause these clubs go through that hugewhat should be a catastrophic impact,and yet they do it tensof thousands of timeswithout damage.- So by mimicking thestructure and not the materialyou can take carbon fiber for example,a material we use all the timeand now layer it in a fashionsimilar to how the clubs areon the mantis shrimp.- So all they would have to dois when they're hand laying it upuse uni directional material,lay it up in this helicoid architecture,and then go through the exactsame manufacturing process.- So by rotating the unidirectional sheets of carbon fiberat various degrees,you can achieve certainfunctional properties.And the benefits, they're pretty amazing.The current best architecturethat's used in theaerospace industry today,has carbon fiber layered at zero degrees,and a 45 left at 45right or then 90 degrees.So if we were to compareit to the same material,the same resident, thesame manufacturing processbut just putting it in theHelicoid configuration,it can delay catastrophic failure by 74%.It can improve the overallimpact strength by more than 50%.It can increase theload bearing about 92%.So you don't need to knowwhat each one of those meansto realize that thisstuff is the real deal.So real, that Helicoid has partneredwith Carvajal General Motorsto build an all carbonmonocar, in (indistinct)- It's called Carvajal General Motors,they're based here in Riverside.They found us and our technology.And then we decided topartner on this chassisto make it stronger andlighter, more impact resistant,and also be able toproduce at a cheaper costbecause we're using less of the rockthe really expensive carbon fiber.- So here's the prototype that's plannedto be built by the end of the year.It's gonna weigh 2,500pounds, have a 500 mile range,400 horsepower and cost right under 60k.And it's modular, so you canchange it up however you want.You want it to be sportier,put a spoiler top on it, great.You want it for two people,five people, three peoplewhatever you want, they can kind of do it.And they don't have a name for it yet,so I think we should help them out.My vote goes for the Shrimp Pit.(people booing)So we can learn from the mantis shrimpto help us build stronger carbon fiber.So how can a butterflyhelp us clean up our air?The folks over at Metalmark Innovationsare using butterflies tonot only reduce the amountof bad pollutants comingout of your car's tailpipe,but also improve the air qualityinside the cabin of the car.I sat down and I picked the brainof the CEO of Metalmarkinnovations, Sisi Liu,to see how these butterfliesto help clean up exhaust fumes.- Our technology isinspired by butterflieslike the Metalmark.And then in this case theoriginal starting pointwas structural colors,was colors as a result of thestructure of the material.- We actually talked about thisin our paint episode of B2B.On the wings of these butterflies,are some pretty amazinglooking iridescent colorsthat are achieved not by pigments,but by the micro structure in the materialthat make up their wings.The physical structure ofthe butterfly wing interactswith visible light to create color.Lexus used this technologyto paint their carthat special type of blue,even though there's noblue in the pigment.If you've ever touched a moth or butterflyand notice the dust thatcomes off its wings,well, if we were to take that dustand look at it under ahigh powered microscope,it's structure is what engineersand scientists are mimicking.- My co-founders were able to then takethat a step further because you know,there was discovery in that process.- Researchers discovered thatwhen they mimic that structureand coat it with metalnanoparticles, it acts as a catalyst.It converts toxic andodor causing particlesinto harmless ones.So inside the stainless steel housingof your car's catalytic converter,there are two ceramic blocks.Each block has thousandsand thousands of channelsfor the exhaust gases to through.And the inside of these channelsare coated with platinumand rhodium and the first block,and platinum and palladiumin the second block.And these metals, they act as catalysts.They speed up the rateof a chemical reactionwithout being consumed.So all these harmful gasesthat are leaving the engine,pass through the metalcoated pores in the ceramicand cause those gasmolecules to break apartand then reform into less toxic gases.But there are some problemswith the current system.One being that ceramicblock it's gotta get hotfor the reactions to take place.These catalysts they aren't very efficientat low temperatures.So when you go to start your car,until that block reachesaround 250 degrees C,they aren't performing totheir utmost potential.Meaning under 250 degrees,all those bad exhaust fumesare getting dumped into the atmosphere.Now on the other end ofthe temperature spectrumthey lose their activityat high temperatures.So to combat this,a manufacturer will just sprayon more platinum palladiumand rhodium to compensatefor their inefficiencies.And now you have a super expensive carwith more or less a bandaid fix.But this is where naturecomes in to help us out.Researchers were able totake what they learnedfrom butterflies to develop a new approachfor the design and formationof a catalytic material.They basically can synthesizetheir own butterfly desks.- And so you, in that applicationwe coat the walls ofthe colors in Brunner.It's very much like what they already do.It's just that with our material,it carries this structurethat provides much higher functions.- So they take this synthesized powder,containing the metal catalystand they spray it on the channelsof the catalytic converter.And this material not only allowsfor a more efficient loadingof those very pricey,catalytic metals, but alsothe catalyst perform betterat lower and higher temperatures,all while needing less of it to do so.And if we think of that on a big scalethat's extremely impressive.The more cars that use this technology,the less pollution they're gonna emit.There's even less pollution dumped outby the machines used to mine these metalsbecause you need less of it.So next time you see abutterfly, give it a little kiss.- Oh, Hey Jerry.- Oh, thanks butterfly.- Oh, thanks, you have such nice lips.Bye byeOne of the most prolificdesigners in the car world,Mr. Frank Stephenson has usedbiomimicry as a foundationfor his design philosophy.His designed for the McLaren P1pulled inspiration fromthe world's fastest fish,the sail fish to help in twodistinct aspects of the car.One to improve engine performance,and the other to mitigate wind noise,- I bought a sailffish in Miami.We sent it down to the arrow labin the embracing department.They scanned it for us.It was amazing how muchinfluence the scalesare the way they are in a sailfish.And nothing really happenswhen it's going slow.It starts to work at higher speeds.The little bubbles of airstarted to blend togetherand to create eventually a film of air,and then there's a separation.There's a boundary layer, as we call it,basically you get this fishwith no water touching it.And the fish is basicallyjust in a pocket of air.And then you get thisNASCAR principle of draftingwhere the front car pulls the back car,and that car pushes the front carat an efficient actuallyaccelerated even fasterthan it should be.- So they took the same designof the scales of the sail fish,they shrunk them down and they molded theminto the inside of the ducksthat led into the engineof their P1 hypercar.And by doing this, they wereable to increase the volumeof air going into the engine by 17%.Now, when they were testing the P1,they were getting a lot of wind noisealong the eight pillars.The faster they went, the louder it was.The reason was because themirror arm holding the mirrorneeded a fairly large armcoming off the body of the car.So problem started whenthe wind flow came aroundthe wind screen then wentunder and over that arm.So to the sailfish they went,to help solve this problem.Now on the sailfish wherethe torso meets the tail fan,there are two bumps on the fish.And they have thiselongated teardrop shape.And that shape amazinglyadheres to the proportionsof 1.618, the golden rule of proportion.- There's something calledthe Fibonacci spiral.So this is a Fibonacci spiral,basically it just tightens upbut it's on the ratio of 1.618,not 1.619, not 1.617, 1.618.And basically that is thecorrect proportion in naturefor a lot of things.I mean, it's any element that I designed,I consistently tried to use that ratio.- So those two little bumps,those golden ratio rulefollowing fish bumps,do something quite cool.When the sail fish is swimmingin that pocket of air,thanks to its scales, gettingup to 70 miles an hour,that air pocket it has toclose off at some pointand the water has to rejoinit as smoothly as possiblewithout creating any excessive drag.And those two bumps, theyallow that water and airto rejoin in a very efficient way.So Frank put five of thosedoublet bumps on the mirror armand the wind noise completely disappeared.They actually use thosebumps, not just on the P1,but also on the 12C anda lot of other McLaren's.I think one of the mainlessons we can learnis that if you're in Miamiand you see a taxidermied fish for sale,put it on the company card.I wanna thank all thepeople that took their timeto impart some knowledgeon me for this episode.If you wanna learn moreabout any of their work,I've put them in thelink in the description.So please go check out their websites,go check out their YouTube pages.They have some amazing stuffthat we didn't even reallyget to talk about fully.So go check them out.Thank you guys so much forwatching this episode of B2B,till next week.(upbeat music)