Flemke - Is this your McLaren? (Vol 5)

[flemke]

Swampy1982 said:

Would you be able to share what you believe those hurdles are, and venture into an opinion based on your assessment about if you believe it likely they will be overcome?

I like Gordon and, for many reasons, I really hope that this project succeeds.
To generalise, the risks to customers will be the risks inherent in making a big financial commitment to and accepting a long-term dependency on a company that is not hugely capitalised and that relies largely on one man.
If the T.50 were being done in partnership with a big car company, it would be totally different. I consider Aston Martin a bit of a joke, but even they, a smallish car company, have given to the Valkyrie project some commercial credibility that Red Bull could not have achieved on their own.

[TIGA84]

flemke said:

Mac. said:

Thanks, here are the pics from that sunny day in September 2005.









So, have we established yet, Flemke - Is this your McLaren?

Thank you, Iain. I had only a few images of the car on those wheels - brings back memories!

I have a couple of virtually identical shots from that sort of time that year as well - my mate was picking his 964 Turbo S up from Manthey after it had a few bits done on it.

[AMVSVNick]

flemke said:

I consider Aston Martin a bit of a joke.

Genuinely interested, why?

[ferrisbueller]

flemke said:

I like Gordon and, for many reasons, I really hope that this project succeeds.
To generalise, the risks to customers will be the risks inherent in making a big financial commitment to and accepting a long-term dependency on a company that is not hugely capitalised and that relies largely on one man.
If the T.50 were being done in partnership with a big car company, it would be totally different. I consider Aston Martin a bit of a joke, but even they, a smallish car company, have given to the Valkyrie project some commercial credibility that Red Bull could not have achieved on their own.

I did ask the question originally as I assumed you would be well positioned to know some detail, if not breach any confidences.

I don't think there has been a proper successor to the F1 and there aren't many people who could make it - perhaps just the one? There always seems to be appetite for whatever £x Million car that's wheeled on to the market by the usual suspects. I sincerely hope there is enough belief in GM for people to put their money down and back him.

[E65Ross]

ferrisbueller said:

flemke said:

I like Gordon and, for many reasons, I really hope that this project succeeds.
To generalise, the risks to customers will be the risks inherent in making a big financial commitment to and accepting a long-term dependency on a company that is not hugely capitalised and that relies largely on one man.
If the T.50 were being done in partnership with a big car company, it would be totally different. I consider Aston Martin a bit of a joke, but even they, a smallish car company, have given to the Valkyrie project some commercial credibility that Red Bull could not have achieved on their own.

I did ask the question originally as I assumed you would be well positioned to know some detail, if not breach any confidences.

I don't think there has been a proper successor to the F1 and there aren't many people who could make it - perhaps just the one? There always seems to be appetite for whatever £x Million car that's wheeled on to the market by the usual suspects. I sincerely hope there is enough belief in GM for people to put their money down and back him.

Zonda F?

[Sway]

Isn't the issue with the zonda it's size?

Always been impressed by the reports of its w accessibility, which is a superb sign of driver engagement and communication. But crikey it's wide!

[Swampy1982]

flemke said:

I like Gordon and, for many reasons, I really hope that this project succeeds.
To generalise, the risks to customers will be the risks inherent in making a big financial commitment to and accepting a long-term dependency on a company that is not hugely capitalised and that relies largely on one man.
If the T.50 were being done in partnership with a big car company, it would be totally different. I consider Aston Martin a bit of a joke, but even they, a smallish car company, have given to the Valkyrie project some commercial credibility that Red Bull could not have achieved on their own.

Completely logical and reasonable, especially when lumping that many pennies on a car.

Guess we will see what the future brings, thanks for your answer.

[ferrisbueller]

Sway said:

Isn't the issue with the zonda it's size?

Always been impressed by the reports of its w accessibility, which is a superb sign of driver engagement and communication. But crikey it's wide!

9" wider than the F1 with inferior packaging.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love a Zonda (and somewhere to park/use it) but I don't think it's an F1.

[Petrus1983]

I respect GM - but this project seems a little crazy tbh. The price in itself (ignoring inflation etc) is 3X the original F1 price - and that was off the back of a leading (at the time) Formula One team. There’s nothing to suggest it’s going to be game changing/ground breaking at all.

[h0b0]

This was during Flemke's "ExperiMental" phase. Some other designs were more successful. For example, this one before his Max Power photo shoot

[F1GTRUeno]

S1KRR said:

flemke said:

That would be fine, Iain. Thank you for asking. I always hated the look of the car on those wheels, but some (a few, I should think) liked them.

Its not the gold persay. It's more that its quite a "busy" wheel imo. The F1 requires a more simple design wheel to complement the relatively simple design of the body

Whilst I agree with the principles of this, especially that the F1 requires a simple design, there's just something about gold BBS rims on a 90's sports/supercar that always looks amazing.

They definitely don't suit the F1 logically but somehow they always look great on every single car they're put on I think.

[E65Ross]

h0b0 said:

This was during Flemke's "ExperiMental" phase. Some other designs were more successful. For example, this one before his Max Power photo shoot

Oh dear lord that's hideous!

[epom]

The wheels not the worst thing on the car in that pic

[flemke]

AMVSVNick said:

flemke said:

I consider Aston Martin a bit of a joke.

Genuinely interested, why?

I can't stand BS, pretence, and style over substance.
For nearly two decades, Aston had one product idea which they bled to death. They tried to pretend that they had their own racing credentials with GT3 cars that were completely designed, constructed and run by an independent company; indeed the name "Aston Martin Racing" is an oxymoron. They lost money almost every year for decades, then they made money for one year, rushed to do an IPO, and the shares promptly dropped by 55%. They're paying money to Red Bull to be title sponsor for the Red Bull F1 team, which is fine except that it is clearly an attempt to create the false impression that Aston Martin have something to do with the technology of Formula One, which they do not. They have gone into a partnership with Red Bull to make the Valkyrie, which is both the stupidest idea for a road car ever conceived and a classic case of too many cooks spoiling the soup.
Apart from that, I think they're great!

[flemke]

ferrisbueller said:

flemke said:

I like Gordon and, for many reasons, I really hope that this project succeeds.
To generalise, the risks to customers will be the risks inherent in making a big financial commitment to and accepting a long-term dependency on a company that is not hugely capitalised and that relies largely on one man.
If the T.50 were being done in partnership with a big car company, it would be totally different. I consider Aston Martin a bit of a joke, but even they, a smallish car company, have given to the Valkyrie project some commercial credibility that Red Bull could not have achieved on their own.

I did ask the question originally as I assumed you would be well positioned to know some detail, if not breach any confidences.

I don't think there has been a proper successor to the F1 and there aren't many people who could make it - perhaps just the one? There always seems to be appetite for whatever £x Million car that's wheeled on to the market by the usual suspects. I sincerely hope there is enough belief in GM for people to put their money down and back him.

Yes, the first challenge is for 100 people to put their money down. The second challenge is for the company to become self-sustaining, so that in ten years from now if someone needs parts or service for his seven-year old T.50, he won't have a problem getting them.

[flemke]

E65Ross said:

ferrisbueller said:

flemke said:

I like Gordon and, for many reasons, I really hope that this project succeeds.
To generalise, the risks to customers will be the risks inherent in making a big financial commitment to and accepting a long-term dependency on a company that is not hugely capitalised and that relies largely on one man.
If the T.50 were being done in partnership with a big car company, it would be totally different. I consider Aston Martin a bit of a joke, but even they, a smallish car company, have given to the Valkyrie project some commercial credibility that Red Bull could not have achieved on their own.

I did ask the question originally as I assumed you would be well positioned to know some detail, if not breach any confidences.

I don't think there has been a proper successor to the F1 and there aren't many people who could make it - perhaps just the one? There always seems to be appetite for whatever £x Million car that's wheeled on to the market by the usual suspects. I sincerely hope there is enough belief in GM for people to put their money down and back him.

Zonda F?

There is a lot to like about the Zonda but, as Sway says, it's bloody wide.
The other issue is that, although in some ways it is relatively light, in other ways there are all sorts of silly, Italian pastry fripperies that add weight even if one likes how they look.
For me, the worst-ever faux-pas was those wheels they introduced in about 2005:

Just look at those 36 lumps of metal gratuitously tacked onto the rim. Ye gads! Totally non-functional rotating mass added in the worst possible place.

[flemke]

Petrus1983 said:

I respect GM - but this project seems a little crazy tbh. The price in itself (ignoring inflation etc) is 3X the original F1 price - and that was off the back of a leading (at the time) Formula One team. There’s nothing to suggest it’s going to be game changing/ground breaking at all.

When was the last time that we had a game-changing road car? There have not been many, at least not among fast, exciting sports cars.
In any case, the concept behind Gordon's new car is to make the "best" version possible of a sports road car, before the dictators ban them all together. I don't wear a watch, just get the time off my mobile phone, but I understand why some people enjoy especially well-made and beautiful watches even though they too could get the time off their phones.

[flemke]

h0b0 said:

This was during Flemke's "ExperiMental" phase. Some other designs were more successful. For example, this one before his Max Power photo shoot

You don't have any photos of the car with the spinners?

[Hurricane52]

flemke said:

There is a lot to like about the Zonda but, as Sway says, it's bloody wide.
The other issue is that, although in some ways it is relatively light, in other ways there are all sorts of silly, Italian pastry fripperies that add weight even if one likes how they look.
For me, the worst-ever faux-pas was those wheels they introduced in about 2005:

Just look at those 36 lumps of metal gratuitously tacked onto the rim. Ye gads! Totally non-functional rotating mass added in the worst possible place.

And a right b***er to clean I’d wager.

[S1KRR]

F1GTRUeno said:

S1KRR said:

flemke said:

That would be fine, Iain. Thank you for asking. I always hated the look of the car on those wheels, but some (a few, I should think) liked them.

Its not the gold persay. It's more that its quite a "busy" wheel imo. The F1 requires a more simple design wheel to complement the relatively simple design of the body

Whilst I agree with the principles of this, especially that the F1 requires a simple design, there's just something about gold BBS rims on a 90's sports/supercar that always looks amazing.

They definitely don't suit the F1 logically but somehow they always look great on every single car they're put on I think.

Some cars certainly. Mainly 80s BTCC ones





Now I wonder if Flemkes car should have gold 5 spokes

h0b0 said:

This was during Flemke's "ExperiMental" phase. Some other designs were more successful. For example, this one before his Max Power photo shoot

Time for a "Photoshop Flemkes McLaren" thread?