Flemke - Is this your McLaren?
Discussion
Flemke, its nice to find someone who owns some of the exotics cars that we all dream about, who doesnt mind sharing their views on their cars and experiences etc with us mere mortals 
Also good to see the cars get driven as they were meant and arent museum pieces!!
Mike
ps your F1 looks awesome!!
>> Edited by mikereynolds on Wednesday 14th December 23:10
Also good to see the cars get driven as they were meant and arent museum pieces!! Mike
ps your F1 looks awesome!!
>> Edited by mikereynolds on Wednesday 14th December 23:10
I was just about to say i like the wheels but i won't now. Quick question in previous post's of yours you have mentioned that you don't like how people put LM bodykits on normal F1s but i think i recall you saying the stability/downforce at high speeds isn't up to scratch. Do you think there's any merit in adding the bodykit if the owners are worried about the stability/downforce. Do you know if Thomas Bscher still owns an F1? he had a few Didn't he?. I reckon its funny the man in charge of the car made to beat the F1 owning an few, good for market reserch i guess.
Cheers
Cheers
Jim Campbell said:
I was just about to say i like the wheels but i won't now. Quick question in previous post's of yours you have mentioned that you don't like how people put LM bodykits on normal F1s but i think i recall you saying the stability/downforce at high speeds isn't up to scratch. Do you think there's any merit in adding the bodykit if the owners are worried about the stability/downforce. Do you know if Thomas Bscher still owns an F1? he had a few Didn't he?. I reckon its funny the man in charge of the car made to beat the F1 owning an few, good for market reserch i guess.
Cheers
Jim,
You are of course welcome to like the wheels, detest the high mirrors and paint colour, whatever. Once the project is complete I'll try to post a few images here. From certain angles the different cambers and new tyres look quite aggressive in a good way.
The HDK makes the car very much more stable at speed, which is why it was used in '95 on the GTRs and evolved from there for '96 and '97. I just don't care for how it looks on a car that's meant for the road. FWIW, it lowers max speed by roughly 30mph.
If an owner is worried about aero stability, the HDK is the way forward. I would say that not many owners seem to drive the cars properly, so to most of them aero stability is probably an irrelevance.
If I knew anything definite and current about Bscher's cars then I might feel an obligation of confidentiality. Since I am not certain of the facts, and he has chosen to put himself in the public domain (and really did beginning a number of years ago, pre-Bugatti), I feel free to say the following:
I visited his place when I was looking for an F1. He has a number of gorgeous classic race cars which he will take to compete in vintage events. As you may know, he is an excellent race driver and won the '96 FIA GT Championship (called "BPR" that year).
At the time of my visit he had his road car, which I believe that he sold a few years ago. In its original form it had dark metallic blue paint with forest green leather and a yellow suede driver's seat (yes, you read that right).
He also had two race cars, which I recently read that he still owns. One was his '95 car ("West" livery) and the other was a long-tail, the livery of which I cannot remember.
I trust that in the above I have only related things that are no longer material to him (a car sold long ago) or are in the public record.
Cheers.
flemke said:
Gavin,
I cannot disagree with much of what you say. With regard to two points:GavinPearson said:Why would commercial over-exposure and dumbing-down be any less crass for a racing team than it would be for a road car manufacturer or a rock singer or a cartoon character?
I don't think Ferrari have whored themselves or devalued their brand. Most of the merchandise is related to the racing team, not the car side.
I might see it differently to most. It is about brand matching. Bentley and Breitling go well, maybe Rolls and Rolex would. Rolls and Timex don't. A fan holding a banner is saying "I hope these guys win". And the team allows it as it is free tv advertising that enhances the aura of the brand, which they make money on as well. Ferrari sells a top brand swiss watch and other gear for owners, and a second tier (much lower) for skint fans. People can mentally separate, and generally do.
However, selling a swiss built Timex which the world knows cost tuppence can be built with the car manufacturer's name on it but it is not a brand pairing, just cheap junk to exploit the stupid.
flemke said:Ferrari have several competitor sets - I'd say it is set by budget - owner wants a flash car - what suits him best? He can afford a Ferrari, Aston, Lambo? In most cases the car ability is higher than the driver's talent, but in all the cases the Ferrari would be arguably the vest. So could the others - there are no real losers. Ferrari has the aura of success and a huge fan base of peasants wearing cheap clobber creating a sea of red at every F1 race. So they must be right...... By the same token Aston have capable cars which make their owner feel like James Bond, the owner aligns themselves with tat and justifies the purchase. Same goes for Lambo - philosophy of the founder is he thought Ferraris weren't up to much and built a better looking car to destroy them. Then our shopper who has driven a 911 realises it's better than the other cars dynamically and has as good a racing pedigree, so even at half the price of the others it still has acceptable credibility with those who like such cars. Hence it becomes a competitor in this case.
What is consistent about Ferrari is delivery of 'good' products near or at the top of their class over the years. Any capable engineer who can look objectively at what they have produced can see the product for what it is - warts and all, and come to a similar conclusion.
Cheers.
flemke- gotta say, i do like them wheels on your F1. even maybe slightly like the color. would probably be better in a gunmetal grey type color though. but if they are not permanent, what does it matter?
oh, and i prefer the mirrors where you have them, look better suited to the car imo.
oh, and i prefer the mirrors where you have them, look better suited to the car imo.
Flemke - I believe your car has been spied again in this months CAR (one with the FXX on the cover). Page 30 has a series of pics of various McLarens that have been photographhed by readers. Botton right under 'Banbury, UK' reads:
CAR said:
Snapped by Neil Murless. "On holiday in the UK I found this McLaren at a McDonald's Drive Thru. Of course I tell people this was my hire car during the trip"
rico said:
Flemke - I believe your car has been spied again in this months CAR (one with the FXX on the cover). Page 30 has a series of pics of various McLarens that have been photographhed by readers. Botton right under 'Banbury, UK' reads:
CAR said:
Snapped by Neil Murless. "On holiday in the UK I found this McLaren at a McDonald's Drive Thru. Of course I tell people this was my hire car during the trip"
I would've thought that all the problems you have with the central driving position at peage booths and at the Nurburgring ticket gate pale into insignificance when faced with a Macdonalds drive-thru!!!
ILOVEVOLVO said:
Hi i have always wanted to ask a very very lucky Mac f1 owner what has gone wrong if anything with your car and what mclaren do at each different service ?
Russ
Russ,
A normal service covers predictable stuff: oil & filter, other fluids, check rotors and pads, tyres, valve clearances, plugs and connections, suspension geometry and corner weights, clutch wear, download electronic memory, wheel torque check, run through all electrics, check hinges, seat runners, harnesses, latches, gas struts, ball joints and bushes, that sort of thing.
Then there are parts that are lifed. One biggie is the fuel tank bladder. The FIA recommend 5-year life, so McL. try hard to get owners to follow that schedule. Replacement requires engine removal and the whole affair is a five-figure expense.
The drive pegs, drive shafts and joints are lifed at 20,000 miles. Replacing them is in the thousands.
There are questions regarding the life of the clutch. Most people seem to get 4-5,000 miles before their carbon clutch plates need to be re-shimmed to close the gap. My experience is that 25,000 miles is not problem, but that is the exception. A re-shimming costs, I forget, maybe a couple of grand. After several re-shimmings you will need a new clutch, and that's also five figures.
There is not a huge history of what can go wrong with the cars, simply because they didn't make very many and not many of those get driven much. The last I knew, the record holder was XP5 (prototype retained by McL. and on display there), which has about 60,000 miles on it. There's a car in the UK with about 40,000 miles, one or two on the Continent that are in the 20s, and probably several by now in the States with 15-25 too. A friend of mine recently got one with 20 thou on it and it was in good fettle. Mine's got around 32 or 33.
All the cars ever made probably have collectively been driven no more than 500,000 miles. That's not a lot. Supposedly when Porsche developed the 997 they built 500 prototypes and test mules. How many mules do Toyota or Honda build before they commence production of a new model? I don't know the answer, but the number must be huge.
The car is pretty tough, all things considered. That's because it's simple, because the original build quality was quite high, and because the most potentially vulnerable bit, the engine, was made by our friends in Munich. Paul Rosche (head of BMW Motorsport engine team) reckoned that the F1 engine would not need a major service "for at least the first 250,000 kms".
The factory have told me that they thought that I was perhaps the "drivingest" owner they have, so they thought of my car as a bit of a latter-day test bed. I'm not sure that I want to be in that position, but I suppose that they meant it as a compliment.
Anyhow, the things that went wrong were:
- crept through just enough standing water to short out the radiator fan. Over the next fortnight as the car sat idle the same water managed to dissolve the grease in the cable housing on the gearbox casing, causing car to be stuck in 3rd gear (still could be driven 100 miles back to garage without slipping clutch).
- flaw a TAG Electronics engine mgmt system that caused an engine bank to cease functioning. TAG engineers were very embarrassed and spent two days trying to replicate the flaw, which they could not do. Gave me a new electronic box which has been fine for four years.
- bolt on crownwheel backed out and scored part of inside of transaxle case. Someone at some time seems to have forgotten his Loctite. Expensive.
I think that that is about it.
Flemke,
Following our meeting in September, you gave us the priviledge of 'hinting' to us the car's location, and invited us to take a look. We duly obliged and we took some nice shots in the sunshine. If I removed the number plates would you object to me sharing those pictures on this site?
I will understand fully if you want to keep the pictures out of the public domain for whatever reason. I'll wait for the nod before I go ahead. Feel free to e-mail me if you want to have a look first.
Iain
Following our meeting in September, you gave us the priviledge of 'hinting' to us the car's location, and invited us to take a look. We duly obliged and we took some nice shots in the sunshine. If I removed the number plates would you object to me sharing those pictures on this site?
I will understand fully if you want to keep the pictures out of the public domain for whatever reason. I'll wait for the nod before I go ahead. Feel free to e-mail me if you want to have a look first.
Iain
Mac GT said:
Flemke,
Following our meeting in September, you gave us the priviledge of 'hinting' to us the car's location, and invited us to take a look. We duly obliged and we took some nice shots in the sunshine. If I removed the number plates would you object to me sharing those pictures on this site?
I will understand fully if you want to keep the pictures out of the public domain for whatever reason. I'll wait for the nod before I go ahead. Feel free to e-mail me if you want to have a look first.
Iain
Iain,
That would be fine.
There have been a number of pictures of the car that folks have posted on PH, so I expect that by now PHers are quite bored of seeing it. If you'd like to post something, however, please feel free.
Thanks for asking.
Cheers.
sleep envy said:Sure. The first iteration is an exact replica of the originals but in 19" rather than the original 17". Also, the rears are wider to accomodate 345 rather than 315.
The first iteration of new wheels is due in about a month
Any hint to what have you decided on?
For the next iteration, I'm thinking of using the same design that the McL. F1 team will be using this year:
www.mclaren.co.uk/interactive/photo-gallery/mp4-21/2006_Team_McLaren_Mercedes-Front_Three_Quarter.jpg
but I don't know how well it will translate from 13" to 19".
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