So,

I have another thread going in the British Cars section of 6speed.. I am one of the first on the list in the USA to get my McLaren MP4-12c.. I got an invitation from McLaren to go to Pebble Beach for a "private" showing, the day before it was unveiled in the USA.

No doubt it is a technological tour de force and a marvel, but I was left not really "needing" it. I have been invited to fly to the UK and be one of the first people to drive it (on Top Gear's Track no less), so I will reserve my final opinion until after I drive it..

I did get to drive a Spyker C8 LaViolette and it's probably the most fun I have had in a Car in the last 20 years.. Stunning, mouthwateringly gorgeous interior that makes all other Cars look like plastic cr@p.. Audi V8 with basically no mufflers makes it sound like a pissed off, snarling, racing smallblock.. an absolute BLAST to drive.. I was double declutching every opportunity possible just because it makes such an incredible noise...

Here are a few of the pictures I took of the McLaren and also some other gorgeous Cars on display at one of the auctions I went to.

 

Great pictures! Thanks for sharing and good luck on your decision.

 

The car is amazing. I too, had an invitation, but could not make it of west right now...
The Silver color makes, the already too clean look of the car, look boring.
They should've picked the McLaren yellow/orange or white color for the showing... Silver is not an exotic or exciting color.
Was the car turned on and revved at any point?

 

I agree on the Color... The styling just was too generic and boring in my opinion... They did NOT rev the engine.. I was very disappointed in what we were shown quite frankly.. They went to a great deal of effort and must have spent a fortune on the setup, yet didn't really show the Car to its best... I mean, at least start it up for us.

Having seen this Car and the new Ferrari 458 Italia, the Ferrari wins hands down in the looks department and I'm NOT a Ferrari fan...

The engineers were very forthcoming about answering my questions... I suspect a sub 7:15 or maybe sub 7:10 at The Nurburgring.. I talked to a couple of the senior guys there and asked them point blank about the Nurburgring times and without them committing to a specific figure, I got huge smiles when I mentioned the numbers I listed above...

I have a horrible feeling that this Car may be too tech-centric for my tastes. We will see.. when I drive it, I might be blown away.

 

That’s essentially how I feel about the 918 Spyder as well. I saw it in person on Thursday. I was not a fan of it at all. Looks great but not for me, and explained that to some of the marketing people whom were present. I told them when I think supercar, to me it should take a super human to extract the most out of it. To me these new cars are water downed. I understand all this new technology is awesome but a supercar should be left raw, that it blows your mind in terms of experience and backbone breaking imo. I understand many will not view it that way like me. I hate what has been produced from the early 90s generation to now. I should have been born in the earlier period of time when cars were classy, had beautiful curves and it took some real nut case to tame one. Last true cars in terms of supercars are over. F40, F50, Mclaren F1, etc. those were among the last true supercars.

 

so its a modded r8? It has a r8 steering wheel.... And it appears to have a audi rs6 engine... what turbos are on it?

 

I wouldn't read too much into their "cutaway" chassis model.. The tech guy told us that it didn't have swaybars, yet it clearly DID have swaybars on their chassis model.. It's just a mock up..

On the Car itself, they did tell us that they still have work to do.. You are on the mark though, as the Car DOES remind me hugely of the Audi R8....

 

nice cars...surprised to see "principal rooney" out and about...didn't he have some legal trouble as of late that has earned him the label of sex offender?

 

Also, not sure if you noticed Graham but the calipers were two piece vs. monoblock.

 

Nice pics 80 shilling,i like much the Mclaren but tell the owner not to subscribe to this forum because he is going to end up modding the Mclaren also

 

Well.. he's about 300 lbs now and the stress has taken it's toll on him... I think it was something involving a young boy, some photos and other unsavory escapades......

 

Yeah, I noticed.. They do claim that the Car is NOT in production form, but they have a LOT to do to make it acceptable.. The calipers are just ONE of the many things that didn'y seem right for a Car in the $225-$275K range...

 

Is this new mclaren built to compete with top speed like the older one?

 

wow it looked like they had alot to finish on that car.
they should of waited til they were done sorry but from a company like that to show a car and still in peaces lol jokes

 

Nice pics, thanks for sharing.