McLaren P1 driving position.

[cure]

A bit unnecessary probably to make a thread specifically for it, but something bothers me.

I wonder why they didn't give the P1 the same central driving position as the F1 had. That would have cemented their position in today's hypercar market with more cars to choose from than ever before. It would show some proper and unique F1 heritage, which a lot of people miss. And it would solve their RHD/LHD problem. It's now a British, but left-hand-drive only car. Seems a bit odd. 

I can only see benefit in it. Is there someone here who knows their reasoning behind it?

[vescaegg]

Perhaps they couldn't accommodate two seats behind like the f1 which would have effectively made it a single seater?

[wemorgan]

Isn't the tub based on the MP4-12C?

[Jacobyte]

It's hard to do without infringing Gordon Murray's patent for the 3-seat layout of the F1, unless he agrees to grant a licence to do so (then how much £££?).

[wemorgan]

Do you have details of that patent? I wonder what unique/specific feature the patent detailed, as I doubt just saying 1 front seat and 2 rear seats would count as a patent.
Also, wasn't he under employment at McLaren when working on the F1? In which case isn't it more conventional for the employer to own any IP generated by the employees?
Just curious either way....

[Jacobyte]

Here's a version of the US Patent granted in 2012; I expect this is based on his earlier Patent as provided for in the F1:

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/8267456.pdf

[wemorgan]

Thanks for the link.
GMD Ltd was registered in 2007.
IMHO that patent looks more related to his T25 car.

[Jacobyte]

Could be right - I'll have a dig into Driving Ambition to look for the F1-related protection.

I always thought that if an invention had been made public then if couldn't subsequently be patented, so perhaps the city car arrangement is different enough to warrant a fresh patent.

ETA: I transribed the patent number from the aforementioned book into Google. Here's a result: http://patent.ipexl.com/GB/GB2254588.html

Edited by Jacobyte on Friday 22 March 19:37

[Rich_W]

cure said:

A bit unnecessary probably to make a thread specifically for it, but something bothers me.

I wonder why they didn't give the P1 the same central driving position as the F1 had. That would have cemented their position in today's hypercar market with more cars to choose from than ever before. It would show some proper and unique F1 heritage, which a lot of people miss. And it would solve their RHD/LHD problem. It's now a British, but left-hand-drive only car. Seems a bit odd. 

I can only see benefit in it. Is there someone here who knows their reasoning behind it?

McLaren F1 is actually LHD.

You get in from the Left
the gear knob is done by your RIGHT hand

[Twincharged]

Jacobyte said:

Could be right - I'll have a dig into Driving Ambition to look for the F1-related protection.

I always thought that if an invention had been made public then if couldn't subsequently be patented, so perhaps the city car arrangement is different enough to warrant a fresh patent.

ETA: I transribed the patent number from the aforementioned book into Google. Here's a result: http://patent.ipexl.com/GB/GB2254588.html

Edited by Jacobyte on Friday 22 March 19:37

Correct- if you;ve already made something known publically, then whatever you subsequently want to patent has to be new and inventive (i.e. not obvious) over that.

The F1 is old enough that any patents on its seating arrangement will now have expired. So you could safely use that arrangement without risk of infringing patents.

[kambites]

Rich_W said:

McLaren F1 is actually LHD.

You get in from the Left
the gear knob is done by your RIGHT hand

There are plenty of RHD cars with the gear stick on the right.

[Rich_W]

kambites said:

Rich_W said:

McLaren F1 is actually LHD.

You get in from the Left
the gear knob is done by your RIGHT hand

There are plenty of RHD cars with the gear stick on the right.

How many of them do you get in from the left side though?

My point was that F1, SLR and now P1 were all LHD only.

[kambites]

Rich_W said:

My point was that F1, SLR and now P1 were all LHD only.

The F1 is not LHD. The "D" stands for "drive" nothing to do with which side you get in from.

[TimJMS]

Enzo Ferrari did it a long time before Gordon Murray, with his 1965 365p Berlinetta Speciale.

http://www.europeancarweb.com/features/0407ec_1965...

Edited by TimJMS on Friday 22 March 21:32

[Rich_W]

kambites said:

Rich_W said:

My point was that F1, SLR and now P1 were all LHD only.

The F1 is not LHD. The "D" stands for "drive" nothing to do with which side you get in from.

It's LEFT HAND (side of the car) or RIGHT HAND (side of the car) i.e the side you get in and sit to DRIVE the car.

Given people don't tend to climb in one side to get to the opposite side to DRIVE the car. I'm going to stick to my original decision (and that of McLaren and the DVLA) thay says the F1 is LHD.


Anyway back to the OP. To remanufacture a car to RHD (for a relatively smaller market share) is too cost inefficient. And to be hinest having driven a LHD car for 7 years regularly in the UK. It's only harder at ticket booths. Everywhere else is pretty much fine so long as you are awake to positioning.

[kambites]

Rich_W said:

kambites said:

Rich_W said:

My point was that F1, SLR and now P1 were all LHD only.

The F1 is not LHD. The "D" stands for "drive" nothing to do with which side you get in from.

It's LEFT HAND (side of the car) or RIGHT HAND (side of the car) i.e the side you get in and sit to DRIVE the car.

You must be away fo how tenuous if not down-right ludicrous that sounds.

The F1 is neither left-hand nor right-hand drive. It makes no more sense to define it as LHD or RHD than it does a motorbike based on the side the gear-change is on.

[Rich_W]

I can only asume you are trolling.

If you aren't. Please do a poll. And ask this question.

"What defines a car as Left hand drive"

a) Steering wheel on left. Get in through LEFT side of car
or
b) Something else

EDIT

Bikes aren't defined LHD/RHD so irrelevant. You can get on a bike from either side.

On a F1 you get in through the LEFT it's LHD. That's what McL say. It's what the DVLA say. It's just a fact Here's another fact. You're either obtuse or an idiot!

Edited by Rich_W on Friday 22 March 21:39

[kambites]

Here we go, lets see what the great unwashed think: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[TonyHetherington]

What a ludicrous argument. Nothing to do with what side you get in. Absolutely nothing at all.

[s3fella]

Rich_W said:

I can only asume you are trolling.

If you aren't. Please do a poll. And ask this question.

"What defines a car as Left hand drive"

a) Steering wheel on left. Get in through LEFT side of car
or
b) Something else

EDIT

Bikes aren't defined LHD/RHD so irrelevant. You can get on a bike from either side.

On a F1 you get in through the LEFT it's LHD. That's what McL say. It's what the DVLA say. It's just a fact Here's another fact. You're either obtuse or an idiot!

Edited by Rich_W on Friday 22 March 21:39

In his defence, it sounds like a load of Shyte to me, also!