McLaren Opens its First Two Dealerships

True to its original plan of expanding its dealer network throughout the world, McLaren Automotive today opened its first two dealerships in Germany in the cities of Düsseldorf and Hamburg just in time for the Formula 1 German Grand Prix this weekend.
These are the first dealerships to open after McLaren’s flagship showroom in London. They will be followed by two more in Munich and Frankfurt, while by the end of the year, 30 more showrooms in 19 countries in Europe, North America, the Middle East, South Africa, Australia and Japan will be added to the network.
Aside from the road version of the MP4-12C, every showroom will have a different competition model from McLaren’s rich racing history.
In Hamburg, the car on display will be the MP4/6 with which the late Ayrton Senna won his third, and final, Formula 1 world championship in 1991, while the Dusseldorf dealership will play host to the MP4/5 that won the 1989 title with Alain Prost.

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McLaren Decides to Make MP4-12C “More Emotional”

McLaren’s MP4-12C has received a lot of praise from automotive journalists. It has even set the second fastest time ever in the Top Gear power lap. But this doesn’t mean that it’s perfect.
Most who have driven it have placed it below its chief rival, the Ferrari 458 Italia, not because its’ slower (it isn’t) or less capable, but because it lacked the aural charisma and emotional character of the Italian supercar. In other words, it was good, but also a bit clinical.
Therefore, McLaren decided to do something about it just before first deliveries start this week. A McLaren spokesman told Autocar magazine that changes to the MP4-12C to be delivered to customers include “a fruiter exhaust note” as well as “improved throttle response”.
The spokesperson noted that these improvements were made "because of McLaren's F1 mentality to up the pace of development".
McLaren’s engineers tweaked the car’s Intake Sound Generator by altering the butterfly valve found in the tube that connects the engine’s plenum to the cabin. However, this change is noticeable in Track mode only.
“It was a bit too sensible before” admitted the spokesman. “You won’t notice the changes in normal mode, just when you’re really having fun and pushing it. They don’t lead to any performance increase, but they do lead to an emotional increase when you drive the car.”

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Red Bull Takes the Front Row in Qualifying with Webber in Pole Position

The unpredictable weather conditions made the qualifying of the British Grand Prix something of a gamble, and the teams weather forecasts were expecting rain during the final session. So everyone made sure that they got out quickly in order to set a fast time before it started to rain again.

Once again Sebastian Vettel was the man to beat, setting a provisional pole. But this was not to last as his team mate, Mark Webber, recorded a fastest lap just seconds later beating Vettel by just 0.032 seconds.

Behind the Red Bull-occupied front row were the two Ferraris. Third place went to Fernando Alonso, who was just 0.1 seconds slower than Vettel and fourth to Felipe Massa, with the Scuderia obviously very happy with the progress they have made.

Jenson Button’s McLaren was fifth, but his team mate Lewis Hamilton couldn’t manage anything better than 10th place in his home Grand Prix. The surprise of the day was the performance of Paul di Resta, who in his rookie period brought his Force India to the sixth place of the grid.

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VIDEO: Revised McLaren MP4-12C GT3 Racer

The MP4-12C GT3, McLaren’s first race car outside of Formula 1 since the legendary F1 GTR, will make its debut in front of the public at this weekend’s Goodwood Festival of Speed. Based on the new MP4-12C, the GT3 will appear in a revised form after McLaren’s team further honed the supercar.
Changes include a new front radiator that increases the maximum ambient temperature at which the car can perform and a new gearbox cooler. There’s also a new aerodynamics package comprised of a new front splitter, door blade, rear wing, diffuser and louvers in the front bumpers, all made by carbon fibre.
Like the road car, the MP4-12C GT3 racer features a carbon fibre chassis and the same steering wheel as the MP4-24 Formula 1 car. The McLaren GT team will spend the 2011 season developing the GT3 before delivering 20 cars to privateer teams for the 2012 season.

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Gordon Murray Unveils Electric City Car Radical T.27

Gordon Murray is best known as the mastermind behind the creation of McLaren’s F1, which at its time was the fastest supercar of the world – and, before that, for his work and revolutionary ideas in Formula 1 teams such as Brabham. However, that was a long time ago and now Murray is obsessed with creating a unique city car.

So today his company, Gordon Murray Design, unveiled in London their latest ultra compact city car, the T.27. It is a project that was completed in just 17 months from conception to a running prototype, including the design of a new electric powertain by Zytek Automotive Ltd.

The design and development of the project cost £ 9 million, half of which were invested by the UK government-backed Technology Strategy Board.

Murray’s aim was to create a completely new kind of car. One that would address the problems of CO2 emissions, city congestion, parking and low cost. He therefore patented a new manufacturing process, called iStream, which enabled him to produce new levels of lightweight structure and safety in city cars.

In Murray’s own words, “lightweight is the most powerful tool we have in our armory in the fight against emissions and fuel consumption. This is true of all cars, especially electric vehicles, since a lightweight car means a lightweight battery, increasing the levels of safety and reducing the retail price dramatically”.

The T.27 achieved recently first class results in the EuroNCAP 50 km/h impact crash test, confirming the integrity of the chassis.

Gordon Murray Design states that the T.27 is the most economical amongst electric city cars: per km, it consumes 29% less energy than the Smart EV, 36% less energy than the Mitsubishi iMiEV, and a staggering 86% less energy than the Mini-E, making the T.27 easily the world’s most efficient electric car.

The company is talking to three possible manufacturers, and the car will make its road debut at the RAC Future Car Challenge on the 5th of November.

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McLaren Will Spend $1 billion to Challenge Ferrari and Lamborghini

After Lotus, Italian supercar makers have another British contender challenging their supremacy. McLaren is the most successful team in Formula 1 after Ferrari, and yesterday opened its first dealership in the most prestigious part of London.
According to a news report from Bloomberg, the British automaker has much broader plans: its managing director, Antony Sheriff, revealed in an interview that McLaren Automotive intends to spend as much as $1 billion in developing and marketing costs to launch 13 new models and variants in the following years to challenge the likes of Ferrari and Lamborghini.
“I see it as a fantastic challenge to come to the market with a new brand” said Executive Chairman Ron Dennis in Bloomberg Television late last night.
McLaren has already invested about $320 million to develop its 458 Italia challenger, the $200,000 MP4-12C and last month unveiled its $500,000 racing counterpart. The street-legal version of the MP4-12C, which at this point is McLaren’s sole production car, has already proven to be a hit, with more than 2,000 orders and a two-year waiting list.

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Lotus CEO Talks About: Ferrari 458 & McLaren MP4-12C

A few days agο, we received wοrd that Lotus was ditching the Toyota-sοurced V8 and dropping its οwn engine intο the new Esprit.

Nοw we get a few pointed remarks frοm the automaker, intent οn clarifying its future positiοn in the supercar segment, and a bit more insight intο the pοwerplant. Lotus CEO Dany Bahar tοld a recent press conference audience that its upcοming flagship will offer a mοre authentic driving experience than the targeted Ferrari 458 Italia alsο McLaren MP4-12C.

Thοse are fighting words, directed at very lοfty rivals.

Furthermοre, according tο Bahar, any injection οf KERS-style (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) technοlοgy in the new Esprit will be tο add to the driving experience, nοt detract from it. In οther engine-related news, the in-house V8 is rumοred tο be both lighter and smaller than the reportedly drοpped Toyota 5.0-liter.

The new eight shοuld debut with a power rating οf about 570 hοrsepower. That's pοtent, and it's necessary tο be a genuine contender in this segment. As a reminder, when the last Esprit ended prοduction in early 2004 its twin-turbο 3.5-liter V8 was rated at "οnly" 350 horsepower.

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