Thursday 18th March 2010

See The McLaren 12C Launch 'Live' On PH

Watch a recording of McLaren's new supercar being unveiled this morning

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See the McLaren C12...

It's a huge week for British sports car fans as today marks the official launch of the new McLaren Automotive car company - and it all happenened live here on PistonHeads.com

To mark the occasion a media event was held at McLaren's Woking headquarters, at which the eagerly anticipated final production version of the MP4-12C supercar was the obvious highlight.

McLaren Automotive Chairman Ron Dennis and managing director Antony Sherrif presented 'the vision, competencies and innovative plans to build and launch a brand new car company' in a major presentation followed by a Q&A.

...and possibly a pair of world champs

British world champions Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton made an appearance as well.

The live video player is embedded in the first post after this article - now streaming a recorded version of the event.

[RacingPete]

The live feed of the reveal will be in this first post at 10.30 GMT on Thursday, check back then!

[RacingPete]

Marc W said:

griffdude said:

Has anyone told Mclaren that their new car looks similar to the new Ginetta?

All the recent Ginettas are front engined and don't look anything like this. Are you sure you mean Ginetta?

He does... and he means this one http://www.pistonheads.com/news/default.asp?storyI...

[RacingPete]

On time - as I would expect from a F1 team.

[RacingPete]

Its an "And" car... has great handling... get it... get it

[RacingPete]

Mmmm.... sexy!

[RacingPete]

Glad they put the rocker system in, as I always wondered why manufacturers didn't do that... though I am not sure how well the priming would work.

[RacingPete]

Oh... and it runs on Windows... I am a 12C and I'm a PC!

[RacingPete]

markbmw said:

Didn't he say 1360kg earlier, now it's 'around 1300'. Trying hard not to be too pedantic but given the big focus on lightness...?

That is quite heavy (relatively compared to their talk of lightness), the new Ginetta (or old Farbio) GTS only weighs 1068kg

How much did the F1 weigh?

[RacingPete]

Woopee.. Ron to summarise!

[RacingPete]

Snoggledog said:

IIRC Redline is 8,500 RPM.

HeavySoul said:

Think they quoted a red line of 8,500rpm in the presentation...

Gold stars for you two for listening in the presentation

[RacingPete]

HeavySoul said:

Can we go to the next launch as a prize please? As 'special' PH correspondents?

I currently have no positions for 'special' PH correspondents

[RacingPete]

Shape Shifter said:

simonrockman said:

It’s a shame there wasn’t a Q&A.

--- Simon

Shame for us. Journalists don't much like Q&As because if they have an incisive question, everybody else hears the answer, hence no exclusive. Q&As are usually only enjoyed by those journalists who want to showboat.

There was a Q&A session, but unfortunately it didn't make the launch video and was held after the photo shoot where the feed stops. This is probably to protect the publications asking the questions as if you had heard all the questions you wouldn't need to buy/read them.

[RacingPete]

die fahrt said:

great article on the MP4-12C here:
http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpass_feature_ite...

Is it just me, or does anyone else just get an article on Panis form 2002 on that link?