Monday 12th January 2015

McLaren Sports Series MonoCell

Latest image in pre-launch build-up shows Sports Series' all-carbon MonoCell tub

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Tiresome as it is to play accessory to McLaren's tortuous Black Swan moments campaign of info for the new Sports Series here we are once again, complicit in the pre-reveal hype. Suffice to say, we're more interested in the car than chapter seven of 13 (yes, some way to go yet...) Black Swan whatnots and this time we're told the story looks at DNA.

Spot the difference; the original 12C MonoCell

Which in the case of the Sports Series is to do with carbon fibre and its version of the MonoCell chassis at the heart of all road McLarens, including the 650S and (in more elaborate form) the P1 also. And that's what we have here, McLaren staking its reputation on expertise in the material and in the process setting itself apart from the obvious Italian rivals - Ferrari's former development boss said aluminium was better at this price point while Lamborghini (via Audi) prefers a hybrid mix and match of both materials.

As such the Sports Series will be noteworthy for bringing the entry point for an all-carbon supercar to a more accessible price point than ever before, all things relative. Unless, as Alfa Romeo asserts, you consider the 4C worthy of the description. Discuss.

In the meantime McLaren has confirmed the car will make its official debut at the New York show on April 1. No, really. So that's a little less than four months and six further Black Swans to go. Nearly there...

 

[suffolk009]

Blimey Dan, you certainly got out of the wrong side of bed this morning.

[toppstuff]

I consider myself a big fan of McLaren and I guess a target customer.

Lordy, this black swan nonsense is tiresome.

I respect the engineers but the marketing is awful. McLaren are a difficult company to like. They really don't make it easy for themselves.

[andyps]

toppstuff said:

I consider myself a big fan of McLaren and I guess a target customer.

Lordy, this black swan nonsense is tiresome.

I respect the engineers but the marketing is awful. McLaren are a difficult company to like. They really don't make it easy for themselves.

I have to ask, why is it tiresome? You don't have to pay any attention to it if you aren't interested by it. But how would you propose they generate the interest required to launch a car into a competitive market sector where they currently have no presence but the competition are busy with existing models and changing models that all gain publicity. Is it tiresome that Porsche parked a prototype outside the Dorint Hotel at the Nurburgring and journalists reported it - that would have been just as deliberate as a Black Swan moment.

[tim milne]

toppstuff said:

I consider myself a big fan of McLaren and I guess a target customer.

Lordy, this black swan nonsense is tiresome.

I respect the engineers but the marketing is awful. McLaren are a difficult company to like. They really don't make it easy for themselves.

I'm not the target market, but I agree with this.

It's seems unfathomable that a company with the resources of McLaren can get effect such clumsy marketing. It feels like someone said, "lets make some teaser videos to go viral — that's what works" without realising it's about ten years out of date. They can't be short of experienced agencies who know what works nowadays better, so maybe McLaren thought they knew better.

But, isn't that McLaren all over?

[craig_m67]

Yeah, bloody Alfa Romeo. Who do they think they are. I mean they only delivered exactly what the Alfisti have been moaning was missing since the beginning of the time. A focused, tactile, RWD sports car constructed from the leading technologies of the day and wrapped up in a beautiful design evocative of previous masters that is similarly unlikely to date whilst being simultaneously affordable to the few who dare to have a punt. I mean what a piece of st.

[smilo996]

Great technically but their PR and Marketing depts should be shot.

The brand naming makes no sense at all.
P1, oh yes like the F1, P for performance? 1?
MP12C becomes the 650s whilst the MP12 is still being produced because someone has the bright idea of going all BMW and creating a family front whilst forgetting to integrate this idea with the rest of the car with that front.
650 because it has 650BHP?
So the P13 has 13BHP?
P13? Unlucky 13 for release on April 1st?

The Black Swan idea is nonsense.

However I reckon it will be right up there in terms of performance at the price and put the competition under pressure.

[IMIA]

I agree from a marketing perspective they're awful. Hats off to them on be g the first to get low cost carbon tub tech out to market but in reality its not even their IP. The CF tubs IP and manufacturing process are owned by Carbotech in Austria as far as I'm aware.

Their cars are amazing in terms of stats. 650 S 0-300 kph out of the box in 23 secs is a game changer but there is something sterile about both the 12 C and 650S. I'd have an F1 or 458in heartbeat over the Maccas.

[Dakkon]

smilo996 said:

Great technically but their PR and Marketing depts should be shot.

The brand naming makes no sense at all.
P1, oh yes like the F1, P for performance? 1?
MP12C becomes the 650s whilst the MP12 is still being produced because someone has the bright idea of going all BMW and creating a family front whilst forgetting to integrate this idea with the rest of the car with that front.
650 because it has 650BHP?
So the P13 has 13BHP?
P13? Unlucky 13 for release on April 1st?

The Black Swan idea is nonsense.

However I reckon it will be right up there in terms of performance at the price and put the competition under pressure.

You are confusing McLaren internal product numbers and actual names of cars.
The P13 is the intenal name for the car, literally Project 13, it's actual release name will be something else but that name will be idicative of its power like the 650S denotes the car has 650bhp.

[Al U]

So, to the "it's going to use the same tub as the 12C/650S" camp, have you spotted the big difference yet with this tub?

[MrTappets]

It's not a series, it's a model. It's also the least sporting model in a lineup of sports cars. Not really what I'd call a "Sports Series". I really hope it isn't just a detuned MP4-12C 12C 650S, with all of that car's flaws intact but less power.

McLaren have some great engineers but boy do they come across as smug sometimes.

[threespires]

MrTappets said:

It's not a series, it's a model. It's also the least sporting model in a lineup of sports cars. Not really what I'd call a "Sports Series". I really hope it isn't just a detuned MP4-12C 12C 650S, with all of that car's flaws intact but less power.

McLaren have some great engineers but boy do they come across as smug sometimes.

What are the flaws on a 650S?

[bertie]

Al U said:

So, to the "it's going to use the same tub as the 12C/650S" camp, have you spotted the big difference yet with this tub?

Shallower sills for easier access as it's a more everyday car.

I reckon this is going to be the pick of the bunch, almost all the tech at a far lower price.

[Al U]

bertie said:

Shallower sills for easier access as it's a more everyday car.

Well done that man! I've been biting my lip for months now seeing people saying it's the same tub as the 650S. It is very different to achieve the lower sill!

[sw1000xg]

Why don't they just all (i.e. motoring journalists) come out and say it... Say what you say!

"WE ALL HATE ANYTHING THAT ISN'T ITALIAN... OR GERMAN, AND WILL HATE ON ANYTHING ELSE!"

End of!

[alistair1234]

IMIA said:

I agree from a marketing perspective they're awful. Hats off to them on be g the first to get low cost carbon tub tech out to market but in reality its not even their IP. The CF tubs IP and manufacturing process are owned by Carbotech in Austria as far as I'm aware.

Their cars are amazing in terms of stats. 650 S 0-300 kph out of the box in 23 secs is a game changer but there is something sterile about both the 12 C and 650S. I'd have an F1 or 458in heartbeat over the Maccas.

You'd have an F1 over a 650S or 12C? Shocker!

[MrTappets]

threespires said:

MrTappets said:

It's not a series, it's a model. It's also the least sporting model in a lineup of sports cars. Not really what I'd call a "Sports Series". I really hope it isn't just a detuned MP4-12C 12C 650S, with all of that car's flaws intact but less power.

McLaren have some great engineers but boy do they come across as smug sometimes.

What are the flaws on a 650S?

I'm not at all convinced by the way it looks. My feeling (admittedly not shared by everyone) was that the 12C was decent at the front and a tiny bit fussy from the back, and then just sort of nothing in the middle. The 650S lacks a bit of styling cohesion, and it also completely failed to differentiate itself from the 12C, which has led to confusion over what McLaren wants its styling language to do. Considering the P1 looks so remarkable, it seems like a missed opportunity.

The trouble is, all we've seen of the Sports Series so far is the name, which fails to fix McLaren's apparently random naming strategy, the marketing campaign, which fails to reassure us that McLaren isn't pretentious, and the engine and monocell, which look pretty much identical to those in the 650S (and I'm sure the sills are narrower, but all then means is the 650S sills aren't as narrow as they could be), which doesn't explain terribly well how the new model will actually differ, aside from being a bit slower and softer.

I appreciate that having said all that, it probably sounds as though I hate McLaren's cars, but that's not at all true. I just get a bit frustrated because everything the company says is brimming with self-confidence, but the cars (P1 aside) seem to lack a touch of resolution.

Edited by MrTappets on Monday 12th January 16:21

[andyps]

Al U said:

Well done that man! I've been biting my lip for months now seeing people saying it's the same tub as the 650S. It is very different to achieve the lower sill!

Do they any/much impact on stiffness?

[smilo996]

Dakkon

You are confusing McLaren internal product numbers and actual names of cars.
The P13 is the intenal name for the car, literally Project 13, it's actual release name will be something else but that name will be idicative of its power like the 650S denotes the car has 650bhp.

[/quote]

I take your point. What were the internal but released to the public project names of the P1, MP12C-------->650S?

I hope you are right really. I suspect however you aren't!!

If nothing else would you not agree that calling it 13 and releasing it on April 1st is not very savy?

[Al U]

Read this if you want to know about the project codes -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McLaren_Automotive

[Al U]

andyps said:

Do they any/much impact on stiffness?

I can't remember exact torsional stiffness figures and if I could it's not best for me to comment at this stage.