Flemke - Is this your McLaren? (Vol 5)
Discussion
flemke said:
G-wiz said:
I don't recognise the other guy, but that appears to be Rowan Atkinson's former car, so I'm guessing that the passenger is the Saudi chap who bought it.Eta - he's the new owner.
Edited by Petrus1983 on Wednesday 16th August 07:30
A few years back Faisal contacted me as I had displayed some Mclaren F1 items he was interested in. He only lives up the road from me, so we arranged to meet at his house for a catch up.
That coincided with an F1 Grand Prix, I can't remember which one, so we spent the afternoon with that on the background on a huge tv whilst we chatted all things Mclaren. I was unexpectedly invited to stay for tea, but I had family plans so we agreed to defer to another date.
A few weeks later he invited me to catch up with him again where he told me he had bought an F1 but not the one we were talking about back at his house, it was Rowans F1, I was over the moon.
Just from the afternoons chat at his house I knew he was a true petrolhead, in it for the cars not the money, and knew whichever F1 he became the owner of he'd drive it, not park it and hide it away.
A few weeks later I caught up with him at his house and he was having a few pictures taken of his F1 and P1 together on his drive - both looked gorgeous in the treelined gravel drive with the sun shining through the trees and his house as the backdrop.
Just after he bought it he took it to London very late / early morning and said the drive to London, around and back in it taught him a lot about the car, and about the attention it attracts.
He's a top guy
That coincided with an F1 Grand Prix, I can't remember which one, so we spent the afternoon with that on the background on a huge tv whilst we chatted all things Mclaren. I was unexpectedly invited to stay for tea, but I had family plans so we agreed to defer to another date.
A few weeks later he invited me to catch up with him again where he told me he had bought an F1 but not the one we were talking about back at his house, it was Rowans F1, I was over the moon.
Just from the afternoons chat at his house I knew he was a true petrolhead, in it for the cars not the money, and knew whichever F1 he became the owner of he'd drive it, not park it and hide it away.
A few weeks later I caught up with him at his house and he was having a few pictures taken of his F1 and P1 together on his drive - both looked gorgeous in the treelined gravel drive with the sun shining through the trees and his house as the backdrop.
Just after he bought it he took it to London very late / early morning and said the drive to London, around and back in it taught him a lot about the car, and about the attention it attracts.
He's a top guy
Edited by hurstg01 on Wednesday 16th August 16:53
hurstg01 said:
A few years back Faisal contacted me as I had displayed some Mclaren F1 items he was interested in. He only lives up the road from me, so we arranged to meet at his house for a catch up.
That coincided with an F1 Grand Prix, I can't remember which one, so we spent the afternoon with that on the background on a huge tv whilst we chatted all things Mclaren. I was unexpectedly invited to stay for tea, but I had family plans so we agreed to defer to another date.
A few weeks later he invited me to catch up with him again where he told me he had bought an F1 but not the one we were talking about back at his house, it was Rowans F1, I was over the moon.
Just from the afternoons chat at his house I knew he was a true petrolhead, in it for the cars not the money, and knew whichever F1 he became the owner of he'd drive it, not park it and hide it away.
A few weeks later I caught up with him at his house and he was having a few pictures taken of his F1 and P1 together on his drive - both looked gorgeous in the treelined gravel drive with the sun shining through the trees and his house as the backdrop.
Just after he bought it he took it to London very late / early morning and said the drive to London, around and back in it taught him a lot about the car, and about the attention it attracts.
He's a top guy
I didn't want to say too much - but can happily say that my interaction was very similar. Great to see the car going to someone who's going to use it! I think he's got a Bentley Blower - but don't hold me to that. That coincided with an F1 Grand Prix, I can't remember which one, so we spent the afternoon with that on the background on a huge tv whilst we chatted all things Mclaren. I was unexpectedly invited to stay for tea, but I had family plans so we agreed to defer to another date.
A few weeks later he invited me to catch up with him again where he told me he had bought an F1 but not the one we were talking about back at his house, it was Rowans F1, I was over the moon.
Just from the afternoons chat at his house I knew he was a true petrolhead, in it for the cars not the money, and knew whichever F1 he became the owner of he'd drive it, not park it and hide it away.
A few weeks later I caught up with him at his house and he was having a few pictures taken of his F1 and P1 together on his drive - both looked gorgeous in the treelined gravel drive with the sun shining through the trees and his house as the backdrop.
Just after he bought it he took it to London very late / early morning and said the drive to London, around and back in it taught him a lot about the car, and about the attention it attracts.
He's a top guy
Edited by hurstg01 on Wednesday 16th August 16:53
flemke said:
He also told me that the fastest competitor he ever came up against on the Nordschleife (this was in prototypes in the '70s) was Arturo Merzario. He said that Merzario used his brakes more often (but more softly) than other drivers did. (Btw, when I was racing there I tried that on a few particular bends and it worked!)
I saw Merzario race in a local Alfa Romeo race at Varano circuit in Italy in 2019 ,he's 80yo now .He was still very handy at it but didn't win .
Wiki also says he was born very close to my birthday [except I'm much younger ]
Petrus1983 said:
flemke said:
G-wiz said:
I don't recognise the other guy, but that appears to be Rowan Atkinson's former car, so I'm guessing that the passenger is the Saudi chap who bought it.Eta - he's the new owner.
Edited by Petrus1983 on Wednesday 16th August 07:30
vaderface said:
Randomly watching F1 vids on youtube and this thing popped up.
Never seen or heard a droptop/ convertible mentioned anywhere in all these years.
Can someone confirm they never even thought of doing this, and its a bad photoshop please.
Or is it some sort of Sultan special.
I too cannot see how this is a real car.Never seen or heard a droptop/ convertible mentioned anywhere in all these years.
Can someone confirm they never even thought of doing this, and its a bad photoshop please.
Or is it some sort of Sultan special.
Apart from the anomaly of the background visible through the windscreen, and the sheer stupidity of the idea of chopping the roof off the car, there is the question of how the doors would work.
In a real car, the doors are hinged off the roof and off the tub at the base of the A-pillar:
The roof hinge would have to go, which would result in a door that opened conventionally. One might (or might not) be able to fashion an A-pillar hinge that pivoted outwards, as the pivot point of a conventional door would have to be move out laterally to accommodate the thickness of the door. Even if one could do that, however, how would one mount a similar long-pivot hinge at the bottom of the door? There is no room, without hacking away a section of the door itself.
GMA T50 900 mile road trip in top gear magazine- will save you the bother!
Understand why they sold it sealed, very little driving impressions in there and very disappointed. Hopefully someone with more ability to analyse the drive and ability to write an article will get an opportunity although not holding my breath...
Understand why they sold it sealed, very little driving impressions in there and very disappointed. Hopefully someone with more ability to analyse the drive and ability to write an article will get an opportunity although not holding my breath...
mclwanB said:
GMA T50 900 mile road trip in top gear magazine- will save you the bother!
Understand why they sold it sealed, very little driving impressions in there and very disappointed. Hopefully someone with more ability to analyse the drive and ability to write an article will get an opportunity although not holding my breath...
Thanks for the heads up. I hate a sealed magazine, but for the T50 would probably have bought it otherwise.Understand why they sold it sealed, very little driving impressions in there and very disappointed. Hopefully someone with more ability to analyse the drive and ability to write an article will get an opportunity although not holding my breath...
E90_M3Ross said:
I hope one of the big YouTube channels will get to review the car at some point soon.
Topgear article with Ollie M mentions they had a camera-crew in tow so expect that soon. Ollie is good IMO. Like to see one too from Chris H.
But, step AWAY from the olde-english flower, Henry!
Bubbas Grill said:
E90_M3Ross said:
I hope one of the big YouTube channels will get to review the car at some point soon.
Topgear article with Ollie M mentions they had a camera-crew in tow so expect that soon. Ollie is good IMO. Like to see one too from Chris H.
But, step AWAY from the olde-english flower, Henry!
But it did 'put me in the drivers seat' and I feel I have at least a semblance of an idea what it's like to drive, particularly with reference to how immersive and challenging it is to drive (echo's of F1 there then...).
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