RE: McLaren reveals MP4-28 amid birthday celebrations

[david_b]

Exar Kun said:

Alfanatic said:

Is it just my eyes or the photo, or is the colour scheme on the MP4/4 a bit wrong? Too orange and the borders between the orange and white aren't quite the right shape or place?

You'd be surprised just how 'orange' the Marlboro red was in real life. Made it stand out on TV much better.

They are quite orange, but he's right that the logos are wrong - it looks like it's been very de-Marlboroed! All the text is completely gone, even the in-period variant of having "||||||" on the engine cover where they couldn't use the "Marlboro" wording - this makes it look very white. Also the orange/red section in front of the driver's screen should be V-shaped to match the Marlboro logo, not straight (or is is curved, difficult to tell from the picture). A quick google suggests it's the one Lewis drove on Top Gear, so I guess they've got put a friendly colour scheme on it so it can be used while avoiding advertising bans...

[sw1000xg]

ZX10Ben said:

They "may" have the car for it, but I don't think they have the driver line up for it. I'll wait to be proven wrong. Jenson has his moments, but only if the car is set up perfectly. Unsure about Perez, Don't think too much of him to be honest, let's see if he can handle the pressure of being in a front running team...

Mercedes AMG (yes, I'm a Hamilton fan) should (hopefully) be able to close the door a bit, as (I think) it's easier to close the bigger gaps (if you have the budget / resources) than it is to find those last few tenths that the front runners are constantly fighting over.

Actually quite looking forward to this season, just a refinement of the rules rather than an outright change like next season; meaning it should be VERY competitive right from the start, rather than one or two teams dominating the first quarter of the season while the others catch up. Always wondered why they don't have a rule freeze for at least two seasons? This would allow all the teams to get much more development and performance out of their packages and save a shed load of money and development on an entirely new package every season.

Anyway, here's to the upcoming season!!...

Edited by ZX10Ben on Thursday 31st January 22:06

Utter nonsense!

Hamilton is the reason Button was having a hard time. Whitmarsh looooOOOOOOOOooooves Hamilton, would do anything to make sure LH won! 2011 proved Hamilton is not that good a driver compared to Button. Now the team can focus on WINNING and not meeting LH demands!

[Zadkiel]

I wonder how much respect they'll give Bruce and the NZ heritage of the team. 99% of time these days they gloss over it and act like McLaren was founded when Ron Dennis took over.

[gherkins]

Zadkiel said:

I wonder how much respect they'll give Bruce and the NZ heritage of the team. 99% of time these days they gloss over it and act like McLaren was founded when Ron Dennis took over.

uhmm: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbhHu_xxqNw

[Richard-G]

Zadkiel said:

I wonder how much respect they'll give Bruce and the NZ heritage of the team. 99% of time these days they gloss over it and act like McLaren was founded when Ron Dennis took over.

That's complete rubbish!

it was only in 2010 they held a minute silence at the tech center for an anniversary of Bruce's death with one of the can am cars rumbling away in the back ground. Vid below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5xPW2Wg1i4

Mclaren are very aware and proud of their heritage, at least as much as Ferrari.

[I WISH]

BoxsterEtype said:

I would so love to take my motor vehicle students to this place at the end of their course as a reward for all their hard work. Anybody any idea who to contact? Knocking at the front door with nice letters never worked for here or Aston Martin. It's one of those places that would truly inspire any budding motorsport fan/engineer.

If McLaren can't (or won't) accommodate you .... might I suggest a visit to the Tom Wheatcroft collection at Donnington Park? It's essentially a car museum .... but with a couple if star attractions. The first is the "seventh" Bugatti Royale that Tom Wheatcroft had "recreated" from the original drawings. It's worth going just to see this leviathan. But then the second thing to tempt is Tom's huge collection of McLaren F1 cars. It's truly a sight to behold - just a sea of fluorescent orange and white - with a handful of later silver cars for good measure. Must be a total of at least 30 or 40 cars if my memory serves me.
You could combine it with a visit to the annual Lotus cars weekend that's held at Donnington sometime in April!

[JS100]

suffolk009 said:

I think I can see a couple of mismatching floor tiles in that first photo.

Shame you were not there to do the P.D.I's on the initial batch of 12C's!! Company could have benefitted from a man with your attention to detail Not what it used to be McLaren IMO.

[Jayinjapan]

Richard-G said:

Zadkiel said:

I wonder how much respect they'll give Bruce and the NZ heritage of the team. 99% of time these days they gloss over it and act like McLaren was founded when Ron Dennis took over.

That's complete rubbish!

it was only in 2010 they held a minute silence at the tech center for an anniversary of Bruce's death with one of the can am cars rumbling away in the back ground. Vid below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5xPW2Wg1i4

Mclaren are very aware and proud of their heritage, at least as much as Ferrari.

Half rubbish rather than total rubbish perhaps. I grew up watching Prost then Senna and loving that great British team McLaren. Didn't know anything about Bruce McLaren being a Kiwi until I asked a Kiwi friend why he was a McLaren fan. He soon corrected my ignorance / lack of knowledge and was most upset that I was unaware of Mr. McLaren's nationality.

Of course it may just be that I'm an uneducated, badly read, ignorant git but as a teenager I always assumed Mr. McLaren was a Brit, I never saw any general publicity to suggest otherwise...

Have just watched the link and I see them showing respect for their founder but nothing that suggests his "Kiwi" roots.

I'm not saying you are wrong and maybe McLaren very proudly acknowledge their "New Zealand" links (I am happy to be corrected) but I personally haven't seen any evidence of this and my friend seemed to be most upset that he has had to keep on explaining to Brits about McLaren's beginnings for most of his life... (Still serves him right for blathering on about the damn All Blacks all the time I suppose.... )

[garypotter]

Christ how good does the MP4/4 look (even if is not the original colour scheme)
I have a good feeling about this year for both MCL and Jenson, MCL can concentrate on setting up the car for JB all year rather than haveing 2 different driving styles!

Good luck to Perez and i am sure he will have a good season once he has his feet under the table.

Also as mentioned before a PH said he thought it was going to be a close season, I think it will be the opposite with MCL,ferrari and Redbull taking the top 6 places for most of the season, the rest will be battling for the final points!

[chevronb37]

Jayinjapan said:

Richard-G said:

Zadkiel said:

I wonder how much respect they'll give Bruce and the NZ heritage of the team. 99% of time these days they gloss over it and act like McLaren was founded when Ron Dennis took over.

That's complete rubbish!

it was only in 2010 they held a minute silence at the tech center for an anniversary of Bruce's death with one of the can am cars rumbling away in the back ground. Vid below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5xPW2Wg1i4

Mclaren are very aware and proud of their heritage, at least as much as Ferrari.

Half rubbish rather than total rubbish perhaps. I grew up watching Prost then Senna and loving that great British team McLaren. Didn't know anything about Bruce McLaren being a Kiwi until I asked a Kiwi friend why he was a McLaren fan. He soon corrected my ignorance / lack of knowledge and was most upset that I was unaware of Mr. McLaren's nationality.

Of course it may just be that I'm an uneducated, badly read, ignorant git but as a teenager I always assumed Mr. McLaren was a Brit, I never saw any general publicity to suggest otherwise...

Have just watched the link and I see them showing respect for their founder but nothing that suggests his "Kiwi" roots.

I'm not saying you are wrong and maybe McLaren very proudly acknowledge their "New Zealand" links (I am happy to be corrected) but I personally haven't seen any evidence of this and my friend seemed to be most upset that he has had to keep on explaining to Brits about McLaren's beginnings for most of his life... (Still serves him right for blathering on about the damn All Blacks all the time I suppose.... )

Always going to be difficult maintaining a Kiwi identity when the senior management team are British, the team is based in Britain and the Kiwi founded has been dead so long.

I do think it's a shame that the logo no longer features a Kiwi but I think the team generally does a good job of celebrating its heritage.

[Alfanatic]

Not forgetting the fact that most of McLaren's history and much of its success, even before Ron Dennis came along, happened after its founder passed away. No discredit to Bruce meant there, he built the foundations and started the success habit in the team, but it has been a very, very long time since he had any active influence on the organisation.

McLaren as it is now and has been since the '80s is a Ron Dennis team, the team looks and works exactly how Ron wants it to. Had Bruce still been in control the team would be completely different now if it still existed. Maybe more successful, maybe less, but for certain it would not be anything like the McLaren we are familiar with.

[Donkey62]

chevronb37 said:

Always going to be difficult maintaining a Kiwi identity when the senior management team are British, the team is based in Britain and the Kiwi founded has been dead so long.

I do think it's a shame that the logo no longer features a Kiwi but I think the team generally does a good job of celebrating its heritage.

Isn't the logo the basic outline shape of a Kiwi minus its beak?

[chevronb37]

Donkey62 said:

chevronb37 said:

Always going to be difficult maintaining a Kiwi identity when the senior management team are British, the team is based in Britain and the Kiwi founded has been dead so long.

I do think it's a shame that the logo no longer features a Kiwi but I think the team generally does a good job of celebrating its heritage.

Isn't the logo the basic outline shape of a Kiwi minus its beak?

I'd never made that connection before. It's certainly am abstract view if it is a Kiwi:



I rather like the old classic, but I am a bit of a flat earther.

[Caractacus]

Jayinjapan said:

Richard-G said:

Zadkiel said:

I wonder how much respect they'll give Bruce and the NZ heritage of the team. 99% of time these days they gloss over it and act like McLaren was founded when Ron Dennis took over.

That's complete rubbish!

it was only in 2010 they held a minute silence at the tech center for an anniversary of Bruce's death with one of the can am cars rumbling away in the back ground. Vid below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5xPW2Wg1i4

Mclaren are very aware and proud of their heritage, at least as much as Ferrari.

Half rubbish rather than total rubbish perhaps. I grew up watching Prost then Senna and loving that great British team McLaren. Didn't know anything about Bruce McLaren being a Kiwi until I asked a Kiwi friend why he was a McLaren fan. He soon corrected my ignorance / lack of knowledge and was most upset that I was unaware of Mr. McLaren's nationality.

Of course it may just be that I'm an uneducated, badly read, ignorant git but as a teenager I always assumed Mr. McLaren was a Brit, I never saw any general publicity to suggest otherwise...

Have just watched the link and I see them showing respect for their founder but nothing that suggests his "Kiwi" roots.

I'm not saying you are wrong and maybe McLaren very proudly acknowledge their "New Zealand" links (I am happy to be corrected) but I personally haven't seen any evidence of this and my friend seemed to be most upset that he has had to keep on explaining to Brits about McLaren's beginnings for most of his life... (Still serves him right for blathering on about the damn All Blacks all the time I suppose.... )

From my own experience, and that of my Mrs, also, those at Mclaren take pride in the heritage of the team and often speak of it. We are perhaps in the minority on here, though, as I'm a Kiwi and she a Brit. We both supported Mcl before we met, me, due to being a Kiwi and her due to Mcl being her 'local' F1 team (she lived near Guildford).

We have been joint members of the Bruce Mclaren Trust since 2003 and me some years prior. The F1 Team and indeed the company as a whole still maintains regular contact with Jan (Bruce's sister) and the Trust team.

For those that want more info - http://www.bruce-mclaren.com/ Do join up!

Whilst outwardly there may not be a great deal of mention wrt Bruce, it is there, nonetheless.

As an aside, how many folk that like Ferrari's know who Enzo is? On PH, most, it must be said, but we're not your average bunch, are we?

[Zadkiel]

chevronb37 said:

I'd never made that connection before. It's certainly am abstract view if it is a Kiwi:



I rather like the old classic, but I am a bit of a flat earther.

It is indeed a stylised Kiwi, they slowly moved it towards what it is now from the original kiwi.

Your probably right. I'm probably being bitter because McLaren are the closest thing NZ have to team and it's quite remote now.

[Caractacus]

Zadkiel said:

It is indeed a stylised Kiwi, they slowly moved it towards what it is now from the original kiwi.

Your probably right. I'm probably being bitter because McLaren are the closest thing NZ have to team and it's quite remote now.

Sadly, it is not a stylised Kiwi, well, not according to Ron Dennis, anyway.

Don't be bitter tho. I mean what do the Aussies have wrt anything in the F1 teams dept? Nada!