Flemke - Is this your McLaren? (Vol 5)

[cc8s]

flemke said:

I try to respect confidences and in this case I should probably not go into detail.

Suffice to say that "1115" was not a number that I plucked out of thin air!

That tells me all I needed to know (in that it is a 'legitimate' source, as I expected ).

I have 86 'extra' cars thus far, excluding the 25 Carbon Series LT Spiders (although there might even be extras of those).

Theorectically, the end count could be a lot higher though. Hopefully this helps to explain this: for example, if you have a car ending in 012, logic would imply that it is preceeded by 11 other cars, unless there is no logic or sequence. In this instance I have 8 of that type, therefore I think it is not unreasonable to postulate that I am missing 4 cars. Were this to be applied to other VIN types this would take the number quite a bit above 1115. To be explicit, I am not saying there are, I am just saying that signs indicate that there might be.

As a side note, it is vaguely interesting that the ratio of Spiders to Coupes in the 'extra' cars is roughly 12:5. It seems that, where the market allows, McLaren Spiders outstrip McLaren Coupe equivalents by a decent margin. With the 650S both the Spider and Coupe were launched simultaneously and the the production ratio is about 4:1. With the 'normal' 675LTs, the ratio is 1:1 of course.

[waremark]

cc8s said:

As a side note, it is vaguely interesting that the ratio of Spiders to Coupes in the 'extra' cars is roughly 12:5. It seems that, where the market allows, McLaren Spiders outstrip McLaren Coupe equivalents by a decent margin. With the 650S both the Spider and Coupe were launched simultaneously and the the production ratio is about 4:1. With the 'normal' 675LTs, the ratio is 1:1 of course.

Does anyone know how the value compares - 675 LT Spider to Coupe? One might expect that if the demand for Spiders is significantly higher than for Coupes but the number built is the same the Spider would be worth very considerably more. But the relative demand might be different for the more track focused LT than for other McLarens.

[Davey S2]

hyphen said:

hyphen said:

flemke said:

I am not sure who Pete is. Over the years I have given rides in the F1 to many, many people, including quite a few complete strangers.

From the thread posted earlier.

Wealthy bloke had a brain tumour a few years ago which has changed his perspective on life, Along with more charity work, he is building up an impressive collection of cars. With your comments about a lot of owners being not the types of people you would spend time with, this guy may be an exception.

Have a read when you have some time free: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Edited by hyphen on Tuesday 13th February 08:27

Said bloke picking up another addition - 675lt from Bentley Manchester:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUd1xaGI9WY&fe...

Yes that's '2manycars' on PH who has just got an LFA as per my link above.

[Davey S2]

F1 Longtail for sale.

http://www.tomhartleyjnr.com/used/1997/classic/mcl...

TH Jnr seems to becoming quite the F1 man.

[z4RRSchris]

Davey S2 said:

F1 Longtail for sale.

http://www.tomhartleyjnr.com/used/1997/classic/mcl...

TH Jnr seems to becoming quite the F1 man.

andyyyyyyyy buy the F1

[Davey S2]

Have to say that amazing as that is I'd actually rather a 'standard' F1 (perhaps with the high downforce pack).

Far rather drive down to the South of France via the Alps than just track driving.

[Police State]

flemke said:

GCH said:

flemke said:

Funny thing is, right after the unveiling in mid-December, i called the dealer to cancel my allocation, but he didn't get the message and failed to call me back. Next came the holiday break, no chance to speak with dealer.
Since then, I have spent quite a bit of time looking at the physical cars in the flesh and, having done that and had extensive discussions with the McLaren people, I have decided to get one.

Same colour as the others?

Yes. In this case it's because I could not come up with another kind of colour that I think would work on the car. Anything light or even medium would emphasise all the discontinuities of the bodywork, which are not pretty. Of dark colours, I think that colour is especially good, which is why I chose it. In car paint, it is hard to find dark colours that are "clean".
I would like to get away from that colour. For example, I am eager to find an excuse to paint a car in a good British Racing Green, but it has to be the right car, and this is not it.

Do you just go for 'the colour' before seeing the finished car in say bare carbon/primer? and/or would it be possible to see it in that bare state before finally deciding on your preferred colour?

I realise this isn't something that would be feasible on say a higher volume car, but would it be so on something so low 'special' and low volume?

I think if I were in your position, and it was possible, it's a route I would take.

Edited by Police State on Wednesday 21st February 19:12

[E65Ross]

Never been a fan of the long tail version to be honest. Much prefer the original.

[hyphen]

So Flemke, what are you thought on the Ferrari 488 Pista and its 'S-Duct'.

[p1stonhead]

z4RRSchris said:

Davey S2 said:

F1 Longtail for sale.

http://www.tomhartleyjnr.com/used/1997/classic/mcl...

TH Jnr seems to becoming quite the F1 man.

andyyyyyyyy buy the F1

POA

Ten?

[Joe911]

p1stonhead said:

POA
Ten?

Twenty, surely?

[p1stonhead]

Joe911 said:

p1stonhead said:

POA
Ten?

Twenty, surely?

Actually probably yes didn't fully think that through plus didn't twig it was road legal.

[hurstg01]

I'd say closer to £10m than £20m

It would be nice if both this and the LARK P1GTR went to the same 'collection' - 2 for 1 discount by TH?.....

Wonder if Andy is getting overwhelmed by the number of 'buy this' or 'is this yours' quotes / requests / notifications?....

[flemke]

Police State said:

Do you just go for 'the colour' before seeing the finished car in say bare carbon/primer? and/or would it be possible to see it in that bare state before finally deciding on your preferred colour?

I realise this isn't something that would be feasible on say a higher volume car, but would it be so on something so low 'special' and low volume?

I think if I were in your position, and it was possible, it's a route I would take.

In most situations a bare carbon-fibre car will not exist for customers to examine prior to making their own specification.
In this particular case, one does exist, and I spent some time studying it. For me, viewing it was helpful not because I wanted the bare CF but rather because it was a guide to how the car will look in a dark monochrome colour.

I myself do not car for bare CF (McLaren call it "Visual Carbon Fibre") for the entirety of a car's bodywork. As a piece of craftsmanship it is impressive, but at least for me it is ostentatious and gets tiresome.
I love playing around with colours, especially glossy lacquers and enamels, even in their modern water-based versions. I would always choose a nice paint over bare CF, although I appreciate that some people prefer the CF look.

[flemke]

E65Ross said:

Never been a fan of the long tail version to be honest. Much prefer the original.

Indeed!

[flemke]

hyphen said:

So Flemke, what are you thought on the Ferrari 488 Pista and its 'S-Duct'.

I think that when they gave it the name "Pista", they forgot to add a "ke" at the end.

The S-duct feature has been used on many road cars before now. I don't care for how it looks in most cases. In this case, it is a visual problem, although not as bad a one as the area at the rear of the doors/front of the rear wings, where they have those awful apertures. Just as on the standard 488, that section is not nice to look at.

Overall, it's a Ferrari, which to me is a bad thing. I am sure that it will be spectacularly fast to drive on the public roads. I suspect that, at the same time, it won't be engaging to drive on the public roads, and therefore: what is the point?

The direction of modern "supercars" has been increasing, and increasingly irrelevant, outright speed at the expense of driver involvement. They're all (McLaren, Porsche, Lambo, Audi, Aston, Merc) doing it, but Ferrari appear to be doing it the worst. Another pointless car to which to give a wide berth.

[flemke]

hurstg01 said:

I'd say closer to £10m than £20m

Right as always, sir.

[isaldiri]

flemke said:

Overall, it's a Ferrari, which to me is a bad thing. I am sure that it will be spectacularly fast to drive on the public roads. I suspect that, at the same time, it won't be engaging to drive on the public roads, and therefore: what is the point?

The direction of modern "supercars" has been increasing, and increasingly irrelevant, outright speed at the expense of driver involvement. They're all (McLaren, Porsche, Lambo, Audi, Aston, Merc) doing it, but Ferrari appear to be doing it the worst. Another pointless car to which to give a wide berth.

You can't be serious about Ferrari being the worst of the current lot with respect to the numbers game and replacing driver involvement with more speed. Mclaren are by far the manufacturer most interested in playing the silly one upmanship of specs. The 488 Pista is I agree largely pointless but so is pretty much every other high performance car including any recent Mclaren you might care to name as well....

[flemke]

isaldiri said:

flemke said:

Overall, it's a Ferrari, which to me is a bad thing. I am sure that it will be spectacularly fast to drive on the public roads. I suspect that, at the same time, it won't be engaging to drive on the public roads, and therefore: what is the point?

The direction of modern "supercars" has been increasing, and increasingly irrelevant, outright speed at the expense of driver involvement. They're all (McLaren, Porsche, Lambo, Audi, Aston, Merc) doing it, but Ferrari appear to be doing it the worst. Another pointless car to which to give a wide berth.

You can't be serious about Ferrari being the worst of the current lot with respect to the numbers game and replacing driver involvement with more speed. Mclaren are by far the manufacturer most interested in playing the silly one upmanship of specs. The 488 Pista is I agree largely pointless but so is pretty much every other high performance car including any recent Mclaren you might care to name as well....

I wasn't referring to the numbers game per se, but rather to Ferrari's trying to make their cars simultaneously more pretend racing cars (Mamma mia, what a manettino! ) and more effete luxury objects.
Not that I am prejudiced, of course, but as far as I am concerned Ferrari are the worst at pretty much everything.

[Jordan210]

hurstg01 said:

I'd say closer to £10m than £20m

It would be nice if both this and the LARK P1GTR went to the same 'collection' - 2 for 1 discount by TH?.....

Wonder if Andy is getting overwhelmed by the number of 'buy this' or 'is this yours' quotes / requests / notifications?....

Is the P1GTR his ?

I have to say I do like the longtail. Maybe if I win the lotto on Friday I can have it.


Flemke if I remember correctly you had/have an SLS Black series. Have you had a chance to drive a AMG GT R and how do they compare