Flemke - Is this your McLaren? (Vol 5)

[hurstg01]

Sk00p said:

A 'particular' set of choices for the interior and exterior of that one, but my god, look at that flat polished undertray

[S1KRR]

hurstg01 said:

Sk00p said:

A 'particular' set of choices for the interior and exterior of that one, but my god, look at that flat polished undertray

Tragic when you see what it looked like before that scheme!

[bolidemichael]

I'm not certain if it has been mentioned here as of yet, but Flemke gets an honorary mention (as does this and previous thread volumes) on the 'Collecting Cars' podcast with Chris Harris interviewing David Edmonston or 'Petrol Ted'.

[Swampy1982]

Link?

[thegreenhell]

Swampy1982 said:

Link?

https://www.google.com/search?q=%27Collecting+Cars...

[bolidemichael]

Swampy1982 said:

Link?

Teach a man to fish

[Swampy1982]

bolidemichael said:

Teach a man to fish

[marine boy]

F1natic said:

What a brilliant chapter in your life. There is a clue to that feeling on page 68 of "driving ambition", someone has drawn a bird onto one of the mould supports in the bottom right picture - Did RD ever see/comment on lighthearted horseplay in the workshop given that creative people tend to have that sort of nature?

Edited by F1natic on Friday 31st January 01:30

The doors are indeed complicated, the whole car was hand drawn, no CAD back then and a freelance design specialist was tasked with designing the doors, the door seal was very difficult as the door closes against both the side and roof of the chassis. Not sure how many mock ups were done before the design was finalized and handed over to me to project engineer into real parts

The picture of XP1 in the group photo has the very first doors made. Myself and one the composite assembly guys bonded them up. After a 36 hr day (my 2nd ever longest day) I delivered them to the Woking site to be fitted by the car build guys. Gordon had a £10k bet with Ron that he would drive the 1st car up to the F1 factory by a certain day and we weren't about to lose that bet for him.

Ron used to visit the composite facility very occasionally, think he might have been worried he'd catch some sort of nasty carbon virus or worse get dirt on his shoes. Everyone was always on their best behavior for his visits but when George Harrison visited to see his car being built the workshop guys had shiny silver self adhesive 'lucky' elephants stuck everywhere. He was into Buddism so wanted small 'lucky' crystal elephants fitted to his chassis in various places. Think he was trying to build in a spiritual roll cage, what a cool dude he was!

The F1 project will always be a big part of my life, it started off being my first job straight out of uni, and after 5.5yrs later ended on a high with a Le Mans GT1 win.

I finished working for McLaren in 1997, was a busy year. I worked on F1 GTR race cars, F1 road cars, changed jobs/moved house to work on F1 race cars, got married and in my spare time was technically responsible for full grid's of F1 world championship inshore powerboats

Flemke, I really liked HD, had a lot of time for him, he is a gent.

[thegreenhell]

marine boy said:

Flemke, I really liked HD, had a lot of time for him, he is a gent.

HD = Harold Dermott?

[S1KRR]

marine boy said:

...but when George Harrison visited to see his car being built the workshop guys had shiny silver self adhesive 'lucky' elephants stuck everywhere. He was into Buddism so wanted small 'lucky' crystal elephants fitted to his chassis in various places. Think he was trying to build in a spiritual roll cage, what a cool dude he was!...

Wonder if they're still in there.




Erik wil know but I believe the car passed to Harrisons son when he died. Who has kept it rather than selling it on.

[AlmostUseful]

S1KRR said:

Oof. That’s lovely!

[marine boy]

S1KRR said:

Wonder if they're still in there.




Erik wil know but I believe the car passed to Harrisons son when he died. Who has kept it rather than selling it on.

This was my favourite road car colour, beautiful!

I can remember the manufacturing director walking around with an aubergine which he used to colour match the metallic paint

Not seen in the photo are Buddism symbols 'ghosted' in to the clear coat on the doors and bonnet, a very subtle but very cool feature

Dhani Harrison had a week of work experience with us, I was asked to look after him as someone mistakenly thought I was a responsible adult, he had a great time and think he may have made some carbon fibre Ninja throwing stars to take home and throw around with his chums

Edited by marine boy on Sunday 2nd February 13:50

[S1KRR]

More pics of GHs F1 here

https://exclusivecarregistry.com/mclaren/f1/484120...



Marine Boy

Any other interesting clients you can talk about? Sultan of Brunei? Unassuming people? That accountant that wanted a brick car phone installed?


Flemke.

Obviously you approve of wheel colours on Harrisons car. Hypothetically if your car disappeared into another dimension one night.

a) Would you get another?
b) Would you modify it like you have 040
c) If you could have ANY F1 still in existence what one floats your boat colour/trim/spec wise? I get the impression you wouldn't seek out a LM (if funds allowed) as it's a bit too much for the road in terms of suspension

Edited by S1KRR on Sunday 2nd February 14:13

[hurstg01]

S1KRR said:

Erik wil know but I believe the car passed to Harrisons son when he died. Who has kept it rather than selling it on.

Its with the Harrison trust, by all accounts, of which I am sure DH benefits from

It still has the GH additions, thankfully

Edited by hurstg01 on Sunday 2nd February 17:50

[flemke]

thegreenhell said:

marine boy said:

Flemke, I really liked HD, had a lot of time for him, he is a gent.

HD = Harold Dermott?

I do not initiate publishing the names of private individuals, but in this case the name was included many times in the Driving Ambition book and is therefore already in the public domain. Yes, Harold Dermott. After production of the cars ceased, for more than a decade Harold was head of McLaren Cars Ltd and was responsible for customer relationships, senior management relationships (aka dealing with Ron), supplier relationships (it took him a year to persuade Michelin to make a new batch of tyres, for example), servicing and maintaining the cars, and in general keeping the flame going at a company that was otherwise focused on Formula One to the exclusion of all else.

[flemke]

S1KRR said:

Flemke.

Obviously you approve of wheel colours on Harrisons car. Hypothetically if your car disappeared into another dimension one night.

a) Would you get another?
b) Would you modify it like you have 040
c) If you could have ANY F1 still in existence what one floats your boat colour/trim/spec wise? I get the impression you wouldn't seek out a LM (if funds allowed) as it's a bit too much for the road in terms of suspension

If my car were to disappear into another dimension, I think I would run after it into that dimension.
Assuming however that I could not reach my car but was able to return to this dimension,
a) yes, I would get another.
b) Yes, I would modify it, especially as now I know exactly what to do ( ) I'm talking my own book here, but my car really does drive better than the others do - brakes vastly superior, handling more predictable and stable. The ride of my car is not as comfy, but I'd rather have a less comfortable car that I can control than a comfy car that I cannot control. Any mods I have done to my car can easily be reversed, so it's not a case of permanently changing the car. And I defy anyone to tell me that my car with its Crono wheels and bigger tyres filling out the wheel arches does not look better than the standard car.
c) I really like the paint and trimming of mine, so my inclination would be to make the replacement like mine. If I could not do that and had to live with someone else's choices, among the road cars with which I am familiar I probably like #036 best:




I don't like the LMs not because of a harsh ride (my car used to have the same springs and dampers in it, and I have driven a GTR and a road car with the same tyres on the street, so I know what that's about and it's not a deal-breaker). There are for my money two big shortcomings to the LMs: the gearbox noise is unbearable, and with its wide front tyres the steering lock isn't good enough for an HGV, let alone a road car.
In terms of both financial value and specialness, my first choice would be the GTR that won Le Mans. My second choice would be XP5 (which I once enquired about but was told was not for sale).
IMO those are the two best F1s. Apart from them, I genuinely do prefer mine to all others.

[PAUL500]

hurstg01 said:

S1KRR said:

Erik wil know but I believe the car passed to Harrisons son when he died. Who has kept it rather than selling it on.

Its with the Harrison trust, by all accounts, of which I am sure DH benefits from

It still has the GH additions, thankfully

Edited by hurstg01 on Sunday 2nd February 17:50

In an interview online with Gordon Murray he stated that although he has now sold his own example he still gets to take the Harrison car for a spin now and again to stretch its legs for his widow.

[flemke]

PAUL500 said:

hurstg01 said:

S1KRR said:

Erik wil know but I believe the car passed to Harrisons son when he died. Who has kept it rather than selling it on.

Its with the Harrison trust, by all accounts, of which I am sure DH benefits from

It still has the GH additions, thankfully

Edited by hurstg01 on Sunday 2nd February 17:50

In an interview online with Gordon Murray he stated that although he has now sold his own example he still gets to take the Harrison car for a spin now and again to stretch its legs for his widow.

You are of course referring to George's widow, not Gordon's!

[Fermit and Sexy Sarah]

Perchance, was it your F1 on Top Gear tonight?

[thegreenhell]

flemke said:

thegreenhell said:

marine boy said:

Flemke, I really liked HD, had a lot of time for him, he is a gent.

HD = Harold Dermott?

I do not initiate publishing the names of private individuals, but in this case the name was included many times in the Driving Ambition book and is therefore already in the public domain. Yes, Harold Dermott. After production of the cars ceased, for more than a decade Harold was head of McLaren Cars Ltd and was responsible for customer relationships, senior management relationships (aka dealing with Ron), supplier relationships (it took him a year to persuade Michelin to make a new batch of tyres, for example), servicing and maintaining the cars, and in general keeping the flame going at a company that was otherwise focused on Formula One to the exclusion of all else.

It's no secret that GM personally headhunted HD to get the F1 into production. GM was a bit of a fan of the Midas sportscar that HD had developed, in particular the build quality of its composite monocoque bodyshell, and had even done some aero work on a later iteration of that car.