Flemke - Is this your McLaren? (Vol 5)
Discussion
richomk6 said:
flemke said:
I'll trust them on this one after say a decade has passed since the official end of the production run.
In Flewitt's letter to depositers, he wrote that McLaren would not be building a spider version of the BP23 because certain engineering issues made that impossible.
If the aim is to build a car that is supposedly faster then the F1 then the likes of a spider version might not be possible if you're aiming for those type of speeds. I'm actually more intrigued about this car then the Senna as it sounds like its more about top speed then how much cornering ability it has which seems to be the focus of most manufacturers these days. In Flewitt's letter to depositers, he wrote that McLaren would not be building a spider version of the BP23 because certain engineering issues made that impossible.
I do share your reluctance to accept that they won't build more then the 106-at least with the F1 the extra road cars on top of the base model weren't over the top (The longtail GT being needed for homologation and if you win Le Mans outright one can understand if you build five extra cars to celebrate). These days its a bit different..
With your name on the list I hope the car lives up to your expectations when the final design is unveiled.
CanAm said:
flemke said:
CanAm said:
And what about the name? " ..... a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet" etc.
But it doesn't inspire me.
That makes two of us. "Speedtail" sounds like the name of a fish.By any other name would smell as sweet" etc.
But it doesn't inspire me.
I would happily pay extra for it. Well perhaps not happily, but I'd certainly prefer to pay more rather than have "Speedtail" written on my car.
flemke said:
CanAm said:
flemke said:
CanAm said:
And what about the name? " ..... a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet" etc.
But it doesn't inspire me.
That makes two of us. "Speedtail" sounds like the name of a fish.By any other name would smell as sweet" etc.
But it doesn't inspire me.
I would happily pay extra for it. Well perhaps not happily, but I'd certainly prefer to pay more rather than have "Speedtail" written on my car.
PAUL500 said:
flemke said:
I have no idea. I have said before that it seems that the operating mentality is that if they make great products, how they handle the rest of the business will (kind of) take care of itself. I don't agree with that, but one gets that sense.
The concept of taking half-million pound, non-returnable deposits off people for something that not only will they not receive for three years but they won't even be allowed to see so much as a drawing of it until a couple of years after they have paid the non-returnable deposit seems dubious at best.
Well I guess for the elite few that have that chance then it is a no brainer, as so far its been guaranteed free money when the car arrives as is instantly worth far more than they paid for it!The concept of taking half-million pound, non-returnable deposits off people for something that not only will they not receive for three years but they won't even be allowed to see so much as a drawing of it until a couple of years after they have paid the non-returnable deposit seems dubious at best.
Plus no doubt its also a sure fire way to end up on the next money go round list of elite buyers for the next car as well.
At the same time, we'll have on sale something like 500 Chirons, 175 Valkyries, 275 Project Ones, 106 (
) Speedtails, the usual admixture of Paganis and K'eggs, and by then we'll probably have another over-hyped piece of crap from Ferrari as well. That's more than 1000 sports cars each costing in excess of £2m. Also, the Speedtail will not be road-legal in the US until at least the production run is complete, if not later. Yes, today one could sell a forward on a Speedtail for more than list (if one could get that past McLaren), but there is some risk in waiting for another couple of years until delivery.The P15 Senna is a sure thing, largely because it is a great driving machine. The BP23 Speedtail is not a sure thing, because it is largely a showpiece.
CanAm said:
Maybe it's my age, but IMHO Bristol got it all wrong too. Quite a cool-looking car (to some eyes anyway) named after a WW1 fighter, and using the name Beaufighter on one of their most boring offerings. The word association was all wrong to my mind.
I'm not sure I follow what you're saying. Any pics to illustrate? 
I see above you mention the Senna and say it's a great driving machine. How is your order progressing and did you settle on a colour as I know you were keen to challenge yourself to find the right colour in order to disguise some of the more prominent aero.
When you say its a great driving machine, are you able to share details about when you drove it, was it track or road etc. It's something I likely will never get a chance to do so as with most things you share, it would be lovely to hear about it.
When you say its a great driving machine, are you able to share details about when you drove it, was it track or road etc. It's something I likely will never get a chance to do so as with most things you share, it would be lovely to hear about it.
flemke said:
PAUL500 said:
flemke said:
I have no idea. I have said before that it seems that the operating mentality is that if they make great products, how they handle the rest of the business will (kind of) take care of itself. I don't agree with that, but one gets that sense.
The concept of taking half-million pound, non-returnable deposits off people for something that not only will they not receive for three years but they won't even be allowed to see so much as a drawing of it until a couple of years after they have paid the non-returnable deposit seems dubious at best.
Well I guess for the elite few that have that chance then it is a no brainer, as so far its been guaranteed free money when the car arrives as is instantly worth far more than they paid for it!The concept of taking half-million pound, non-returnable deposits off people for something that not only will they not receive for three years but they won't even be allowed to see so much as a drawing of it until a couple of years after they have paid the non-returnable deposit seems dubious at best.
Plus no doubt its also a sure fire way to end up on the next money go round list of elite buyers for the next car as well.
At the same time, we'll have on sale something like 500 Chirons, 175 Valkyries, 275 Project Ones, 106 (
) Speedtails, the usual admixture of Paganis and K'eggs, and by then we'll probably have another over-hyped piece of crap from Ferrari as well. That's more than 1000 sports cars each costing in excess of £2m. Also, the Speedtail will not be road-legal in the US until at least the production run is complete, if not later. Yes, today one could sell a forward on a Speedtail for more than list (if one could get that past McLaren), but there is some risk in waiting for another couple of years until delivery.The P15 Senna is a sure thing, largely because it is a great driving machine. The BP23 Speedtail is not a sure thing, because it is largely a showpiece.
E65Ross said:
By the sounds of it Flemke you think the Senna is a good drive. Do you think it'd be quicker than the NEW Aventador SVJ around that green place?
It's lighter, has more power, and a LOT more downforce so if it wasn't something would be seriously wrong. But McLaren don't seem interested in doing factory times at the 'ring, so we'll have to wait till someone handy gets a lap in - it's bound to happen eventually, right? That said, I couldn't find a decent laptime for the 720, and as we know the P1 promo laptime was never factory verified.
flemke said:
Peloton25 said:
Hammer111 said:
McLaren has been saying there will be 106 of these Speedtails built, same number as the F1. But that 106 for the F1 included destroyed prototypes and by my count 4 cars McLaren never sold. Are they following the same? Or will this be xxx/106 customer cars + X prototypes + Y crash tested vehicles + Z Cars Mclaren keeps + well we know what they've done recently.
Cheers!
There will be 106 production Speedtails sold and delivered to customers. From what I have been told, they have committed that they will not refurbish/resell the prototypes of BP23 as they have done in the past with cars like the P1. Time will tell if they stick to that plan, and also the suggestion that there will be no additional variants of BP23 forthcoming.Cheers!
One should assume they would keep one of those prototype units for themselves, and that's okay because the F1's spare chassis often causes people to count the total number of F1s inaccurately at 107.
>8^)
ER
In Flewitt's letter to depositers, he wrote that McLaren would not be building a spider version of the BP23 because certain engineering issues made that impossible.
What he did not say was, if McLaren's engineers were miraculously to solve those engineering issues, whether McLaren would then consider themselves at liberty to make a spider version - of course, purely in response to "customer demand", not because McLaren were interested in making a bunch of free money by spreading the fixed costs over more units.
On a tangent, I'm impressed with the number of Senna prototypes kicking about and will be interested to see how many are sold on.
Regarding the sale of prototypes, they never sell on the mules, as far as I can tell. But anything from late XPs onwards are fair game for selling, I believe. On that note, there are no Senna XPs.
vincegail said:
I like that? Dear Lord....NURSE! The pills please. I will be lying down in a darkened room, a cold compress on my brow until this fever lifts....
vincegail said:
more of a rip off of the Maserati MC12 I'd of thought?looks wonderful in that colour!
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