If a fine man's suit is defined by details and what makes that suit truly special are those details invisible to anyone but the man wearing it, then the Mclaren MP4-12C is the Tom Ford suit of supercars: sharp but not loud, posh but not boring, expensive but not ostentatious, meticulously detailed and appreciated by those hip to it.
CG and I were at the Mclaren NYC premiere last night in a room full of Ferrari, Lamborghini and Porsche owners, the target client in Ron Dennis' ambitious bet of starting a brand new global car company. Not a high margin, artisan business like Pagani but a bona fide car company with dealers, spares, service and long term plans. A titanic endeavor even in good economic times...
More, plus photos and videos after the jump
A dark silver MP4 was there as was a naked chassis, the car's skeleton for all to see. CG and I were especially impressed at how low the twin turbo v8 is mounted, the top of the valve covers is well below the top of the wheels. We were surprised the car does not have adjustable sway bars, like the Porsche GTs but then the 430 Scuderia does not either (EDIT: and it tuns out the MP4 does not have one..see comments). The welds, even the brake pedal, a sculpture in its own right.
The MP4 looks better in person then in pictures, styling more R8 than Lamborghini, subtle but sharp. Paint quality is phenomenal. Cool design details are everywhere, the rear has no visible lights or turn signals, the doors have no latches or switches. Inside the cabin, materials, which will of course be fully customizable, are top quality. Here again, many touches which speak to an obsession with engineering perfection that is so Mclaren. A good example, the reading light switches: not just switches, they are touch activated dimmers.
The touch screen navigation, entertainment, communication console in the center console was not immediately user friendly but then again it's not like I had either time or the manual... Looks great in any case. Shift paddles are on the steering wheel and even the air vents look special, product of months of CFD analysis not doubt. The only non Mclaren like bit? hidden under the center console, a cupholder.
The cabin is small but not crowded. The driving position close to perfect and getting in and out of the car made quite a bit easier by the doors being mounted so far forward. There is ample room for long legs in the passenger seat though exiting with a short skirt and modesty might be mutually exclusive.
How does it sound? good question. We were not allowed to start it but wondered how they were able to meet noise regulation with that tiny exhaust, I guess turbos must quiet things. How does it drive? hopefully we'll find out soon.
Frank Stephenson in his introduction mentioned how working at Mclaren was liberating as he was not burdened by design language and expectations and here, I think, lies the crux of issue: Who will be the Mclaren buyer?
Porsche and Ferrari, have a at least a 60 year head start in the aspirational market. Axis readers will appreciate the technological tour de force that lies beneath the Mclaren flannel suit but, to sell the numbers projected, Working is going to have to convince lotto winners who crash their 458 into trees and Greenwich fundies who buy 911 turbo cabriolets to spring for a car with little name recognition outside of the hardcore and without the obvious bling of a Lamborghini.
That might make winning a Formula 1 championship seem like child's play for Ron "Enzo" Dennis, I'm sure he relishes the challenge.
Thoughts and questions always welcome in the comments.
Mclaren Automotive
The car looks great but I don't really like the emblem, especially on the steering wheel. It sticks out as being too...hot wheels or fake emblem on a toy like.
ReplyDeleteFunny you should mention that, CG said it looked "Playstation". I like how they echoed the logo in many parts of the car's design, starting from the headlights and the side intakes.
ReplyDeleteBut what manufacturer doesn't put their logo on the center of the steering wheel?
ReplyDeleteI believe the car does not have any swaybars at all:
ReplyDeletehttp://blogs.insideline.com/straightline/2010/09/2012-mclaren-mp4-12c-suspension-walkaround.html
Instead it uses a hydraulic system to relate the dampers on either side.
Check the pictures, there is something tubular joining the rear sides. Not sure what else it could be
ReplyDeleteIn the Edmunds article, they claim that is a z-bar to counteract downforce. It doesn't inhibit roll, and only reacts when there is equal force pushing on both wheels.
ReplyDeleteInteresting, in fact what you see in the pictures is rather enormous as a sway bar, so effectively it's a bumpstop?
ReplyDeleteI guess it would be like a bumpstop that's activated only when both wheels see the same vertical forces, but otherwise acts like its not there. The Edmunds article said that McLaren wanted a really compliant ride with softer springs, so that seems to make sense.
ReplyDeleteyou mean 3rd spring?
ReplyDeleteSo its not a swaybar, but a compression bar? (acts like an additional spring, increasing stiffness). That's probably why in links to the rear of the left suspension but the front of the right side.
ReplyDelete.... but how does it only act under hiogh speed aero-load? and not just regular squat?
The suspension system is sourced from Tenneco which is interesting considering McLaren has a strong technical partnership with Koni. Anyways, Tenneco recently acquired Kinetic Suspension Technology (AUS) and has implemented this technology into the MP4-12C. If you look close on some of the cutaway pictures, you can see the lines running to the valves and accumulators needed to operate the system. Information from Tenneco can be found here: http://www.tenneco.com/media/uploads/pdfs/A4_Kinetic_GB_review.pdf
ReplyDeleteBasically the dampers are inter-connected to cause the system to use the accumulator spring in different ways. Hydraulically, it has poor leverage over the accumulator spring under roll motions and thus the roll motions cause a high stiffness response. However, under warp (one-wheel bump_ mode, it has great leverage over the accumulator spring, to give a low stiffness response. The way the fluid flows either help each other or work against each other when dealing with the accumulator spring is the key to separating the modes. The end result is that the car is stiff in roll, soft in warp (one-wheel bump).
Here is another diagram:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.tenneco.com/media/uploads/pdfs/A3_Kinetic_H2_CES_GB_10.pdf
Very clean and very nice
ReplyDeleteIn the interior video - what is the glowing knob to the right and just behind the steering wheel. Is that the key? It looks like some sort of air con control.
ReplyDeleteThat car looks amazing. I have only ever seen a Maclaren on the motorway one time, and it was awesome, everyone was gazing at it in awe!
ReplyDeleteAll the climate controls are on the doors, I'm not really sure what that controller is for, possibly setting for the dash?
ReplyDelete@Murph - You can see a more clear photo of the knob on the dash here.
ReplyDeletehttp://farm5.static.flickr.com/4097/4913754408_2eeaf39cac_o.jpg
The car is keyless, but I would suspect it functions similar to a key as some kind of control for the battery/power.
>8^)
Erik
Its actually a good thing only the hardcore know about this brand. Keeps all the undesirables from owning and diluting it.
ReplyDelete