The McLaren MP4/24 Thread

[dpbird90]

So, with only 3 days until Lewis' 2009 wheels being launched, thought it deserved it's own thread. Having seen what Maranello came up with, I am very disappointed, and itv.com/f1 reported that the 2009 Ferrari has had a few glitches in the few laps of testing that Massa did. So, let us hope that McLaren do not have the same problems, and that their car is a lot better looking than its Italian counterpart, and watch the speculation build up below this thread for the next few days.


And on a finishing note, I know McLaren will not do it, but I would love to see their, and everyone else's 09 cars for that matter, look like this:

[Bill Carr]

dpbird90 said:

And on a finishing note, I know McLaren will not do it, but I would love to see their, and everyone else's 09 cars for that matter, look like this:

Er, and just how can they do that under the current rules?

[williamp]

Ahhh, Williams should be blue,. white and yellow with a bit of red. Fantastic

[dpbird90]

Bill Carr said:

Er, and just how can they do that under the current rules?

Take a look. Big front wing, tall, narrow(ish) rear wing.
Would be cool, especially if McLaren started using their old paintjob again (just without the Marlboro branding of course), and that Williams does look fantastic in the old colours.

[Munter]

dpbird90 said:

Bill Carr said:

Er, and just how can they do that under the current rules?

Take a look. Big front wing, tall, narrow(ish) rear wing.
Would be cool, especially if McLaren started using their old paintjob again (just without the Marlboro branding of course), and that Williams does look fantastic in the old colours.

The new front wing go's all the way to the outside of the front tyres. To not do that would be giving up a serious advantage. I thought the Ferrari looked ok. No formula 1 car ever looks "sexy". Thy are designed to fit in the rules. Form from Function and all that.

A good looking racing car looks like

Edited by Munter on Wednesday 14th January 10:10

[dpbird90]

Munter said:

[flemke]

Munter said:

No formula 1 car ever looks "sexy".

A few from a recent GM thread:

smiller said:

And the best of all:

[dpbird90]

Mmmm, JPS Lotus. Now that's a handsome F1 car.

[ajprice]

If they ever went from the chrome, black and red I'd really like McLaren to use the orange and black livery they have used for initial testing sometimes. Its the traditional McLaren colour.

Edited by ajprice on Wednesday 14th January 12:28

[thestig84]

I have been told it is still chrome and looks very similar to the Ferrari. No surprises there really. I asked where Lenovo fitted into the livery but there are no stickers on the car yet.

[tmk2]

ajprice said:

If they ever went from the chrome, black and red I'd really like McLaren to use the orange and black livery they have used for initial testing sometimes. Its the traditional McLaren colour.

Edited by ajprice on Wednesday 14th January 12:28

Think that colour scheme is awesome, think it would be great for them to race in those colours

[dpbird90]

tmk2 said:

ajprice said:

If they ever went from the chrome, black and red I'd really like McLaren to use the orange and black livery they have used for initial testing sometimes. Its the traditional McLaren colour.

Edited by ajprice on Wednesday 14th January 12:28

Think that colour scheme is awesome, think it would be great for them to race in those colours

That would be fantastic. Certainly would have been useful for James Allen, who couldn't tell the difference between a McLaren and Force India at times...

[jonnylayze]

ajprice said:

If they ever went from the chrome, black and red I'd really like McLaren to use the orange and black livery they have used for initial testing sometimes. Its the traditional McLaren colour.

Edited by ajprice on Wednesday 14th January 12:28

McLaren did use this livery for a few years in the late 60s/early 70s - partiularly on the famous Can Am cars. IIRC the colour was not New Zealand racing orange but stemmed from Gulf oil sponsorship - can anyone confirm?



The first McLAren F1 cars were White with dark green noseband and central stripe - as seen on the 'Yamura' cars in the 1966 film Grand Prix.

Edited by jonnylayze on Wednesday 14th January 13:22

[flemke]

jonnylayze said:

McLaren did use this livery for a few years in the late 60s/early 70s - partiularly on the famous Can Am cars. IIRC the colour was not New Zealand racing orange but stemmed from Gulf oil sponsorship - can anyone confirm?

AIUI, the orange was first used on the Can-Am cars, in '67. Teddy Mayer selected it because he wanted the McLarens to be quite visible to opposing drivers when Bruce or Denny was about to lap them.


Eta: The national racing colour of NZ is not orange, it is dark green with silver. D. green/silver would have been the colours of the first McLaren GP car, but, as you allude, they were required by the director of the movie to paint the car colours that "fit" with the rest of the grid for the movie, and then to carry on with those colours in the real races.

Edited by flemke on Wednesday 14th January 14:10

[CivicMan]

I think we have an idea from this I've coddled up....:

[MartinD]

flemke said:

jonnylayze said:

McLaren did use this livery for a few years in the late 60s/early 70s - partiularly on the famous Can Am cars. IIRC the colour was not New Zealand racing orange but stemmed from Gulf oil sponsorship - can anyone confirm?

AIUI, the orange was first used on the Can-Am cars, in '67. Teddy Mayer selected it because he wanted the McLarens to be quite visible to opposing drivers when Bruce or Denny was about to lap them.

The McLaren orange was specifically chosen for the M6 Can Am's after a similar colour was seen on a Lola Can Am & liked & became a few shades lighter over a couple of seasons till the Papaya 'McLaren' orange was settled on.

[flemke]

MartinD said:

The McLaren orange was specifically chosen for the M6 Can Am's after a similar colour was seen on a Lola Can Am & liked & became a few shades lighter over a couple of seasons till the Papaya 'McLaren' orange was settled on.

Ironically, the exact "Papaya" orange does not exist anymore. EU rules governing the composition of paints mean that the paint manufacturers cannot produce precisely the ingredients required for it.

Edited by flemke on Wednesday 14th January 22:11

[Derek Smith]

Can you see why I fell in love with F1 when they fielded cars as beautiful as this one.





And this one made all the other cars look old fashioned.



It's just a shame it made all the others look faster as well.

[anonymous-user]

Papaya is a gorgeous colour on a McLaren racing car, especially when it's seen moving. It's definitely a winning colour!

[dpbird90]

Just been on McLaren's website, they are lauching it at 10AM tomorrow at Woking. Typical, the time college starts, won't be home till 12 so will have to see it then.