Talk show host and car guy Jay Leno gets a sneak peek at the new McLaren, and he likes what he sees I had not been to McLaren in England for around 10 years, when I bought my F1 road car. Then, the factory was in a selection of buildings in the town. Boy, when I came back in the summer to see the new P11 (or MP4-12C, as the production car will be called) how things have changed.
I wasn't in Woking just seeing a new car for the first time, I was seeing a new car factory for the first time, too. To see a car factory that is so in tune with its environment in terms of the way the lake out front works as a heat sink, all the technology that has gone in to designing the factory makes you know that whatever you're gonna see inside should be equally fascinating. To see a workshop so clean, so open and everyone doing their job in a relaxed and professional way in the most ecologically way possible I thought was a sort of sorbet for your appetite, cleansing the palate to get ready to see the new car. I felt good about seeing it, knowing here you are making essentially a high-performance product but doing it the most efficient and ecologically way possible. I like that aspect of it.
The original F1 was a statement. I think this car is meant to be more of a profit-making venture. Everybody knows the name Ferrari, and you buy a Ferrari for any number of reasons. You really only buy a McLaren for one reason: because the name, at least in its purest sense now, is just known by enthusiasts who like racing and high-tech, good-handling sports cars. The entrance to the secret P11 department was through a door marked with a sign saying NO UNAUTHORISED ACCESS. I like going through doors like that. In the inner sanctum, the managing director, Antony Sheriff, showed me their new car.
He also asked me my views on elements of the car. It's nice to be asked. I am not an engineer or technician, but I am a customer. I always remember the early days when Enzo Ferrari sold road cars to pay for his racing, but really there wasn't that concern for the customer. I think with McLaren, you get the sense that customer is king, and that's the thing the English do best: service the customer. I'm flattered to be asked; I don't know whether my input would be good for anything.
As for my opinions I can share, well, I think the P11 is a good-looking car. We live in an era of aerodynamics where cars have to look a certain way because of the speeds they attain and road handling. I think it's a car that will age well. My McLaren is a 1994 and people think it's a brand new car. There's a timeless quality to it. I think the P11 is good looking without being outrageous. The thing I like about McLaren, at least the McLaren I know in the past, is that they design the mechanicals first and then shape the body over it. There's a tendency with some cars to have a factory put out a sketch and then later on everybody tries to figure out how to cram all the oil coolers and radiators and engines under the hood and the cars wind up having huge arches and being much wider and heavier than they intended to be.
The fact they're building their own engine is key. My respect for TVR went up 1,000 per cent when they built their own motor. That's when you're really serious about producing a car with your name on it. The motor really is the heart of it. This car looks like pure design. It looks like they designed the mechanicals of the car and then figured out how to style the body over it. It looks very much as you would expect a super car to look. It's a mature, fresh-looking car; it doesn't have a lot of silly wings and things like that on it.
I think orange is fun as the launch colour. When the Lamborghini Miura came out, it was in those lurid lime greens and Day-Glo colours. That is now part of their heritage and it makes the car stand out. I'm a little tired of the pewter or black sports cars, so I think that's a really exciting colour. I think it will look good. There doesn't appear to be anything on the car that doesn't need to be there. I was able to pick up the carbon fibre tub - it's incredibly lightweight but very strong. That kind of modular construction, where pieces bolt on to it front and back, can ease construction and cost. It has the qualities I like in an English sports car. It's as light as it can be. I mean, the one thing that always bothered me about the SLR in partnership with Mercedes, as much as I liked the car, it's a little too much Mercedes and not enough McLaren. My rear end is not that big that I need an electric motor to move it three inches, and I never understood why it had to have that on the SLR.
I had no idea where this car was going to be priced. I assumed it would be in the range of the original F1, not quite as much, but somewhere in that range. It seems like it will be slightly more than a Porsche Turbo and a bit less than a comparable Ferrari. That seems to be a smart move. I'd consider one for sure. motoring@thenational.ae
