[Justices]

I wasn't expecting a flood of photos, what a great way to finish the day here. The colour looks phenomenal.

[flemke]

Joe911 said:

waremark said:

No pics of the seats in this session?

The car looks fabulous - squiggle, white lines, interior etc all work well, well done Flemke.

bks, no, sorry. My plan was to photograph everything - all those tiny details that make the car so unique, etc. - in the end we just ran out of time.

While Flemke isn't so sure - I didn't see what the problem was with the interior scheme.

The interior is just... a FAIL.




First, the blue material is more intense than I expected. The glass is not that transparent from the outside; even a v bright colour trimming is subdued when seen through the glass. Also, the driver's seat is a distance away from the door opening. I expected these two factors to tend to minimise how much the blue would stand out, requiring me to make it brighter than otherwise. That did not turn out to be the case.
The hue of the blue fabric is okay (its pure colour relationship with the exterior paint), but that particular colour needs to be toned down by darkening it or diluting it.
Next, although the fabric itself is of higher quality than Alcantara (same manufacturer for both), it looks cheap (as in crude, ostentatious, simplistic). It's too stark.
The layout of the panels is not right, either. Because of the brightness of the fabric, I used minimal narrow bands on the passenger seats. That succeeded in avoiding too much bright blue, but the width of the bands is slightly too narrow, and there should be more of them (but there can't be, because of the brightness of the blue). A subtler blue (or other colour), which would enable more of it to be used, would work better.
The driver's seat has too close a balance between the amount of blue and the amount of black. The eye doesn't want a "checkerboard" of equality; one colour or material should predominate, with the other supporting or complementing.
Also, the fabric does not appeal in large flat panels.

The original idea was to use a utilitarian fabric which connoted motoring or racing. This fabric Ferrari used for years in its racing cars:




Then we have this sort of thing:





I don't mean that any of the above specific materials would have been right, as they obviously would not have been. Rather, I'm trying to example ways in which textile can succeed in an interior, have something of its own design integrity whilst existing solely to support the rest.

I looked at tons of textiles. The problem was that, as they were all intended for commercial/industrial use (airport seating, coaches, office furniture), they all to varying degrees had a slightly bristly quality against the skin - something that one would not notice in public seating which has been used thousands of times prior to oneself, but which would be annoying in a private car.

The textile I used has a very nice hand (feel against the skin), whilst being extremely durable. The only problem is that it doesn't look good in the way that I used it.

Back to the drawing board, or, in this case, the sample book.

[deviant]

I think you should just go out and drive the tyres off it

[Munter]

deviant said:

I think you should just go out and drive the tyres off it

Yes. And in the meantime a few tasteful seat covers could be used to tone down the interior. Something like this for instance:

[Justices]

I am a huge fan of attention to detail, especially with textiles. That you don't seem to rest easy if it's not 100% as you've envisioned is a very good thing to see. Your patience is bloody impressive however, not sure I could have waited this long regardless of it being an F1. Colour looks sensational, well worth the research and deliberation.

[identti]

flemke said:

Not sure what you mean, both by "MOE" (or "ME") and "work". I think that Woking BP is name of the industrial estate where the racing team used to be located and, no, the car has never been on that property.

MOE is McLaren Oweners' Exclusive, now called MSO (McLaren Special Operations). They do custom work for customer McLaren vehicles here in the UK.

[HereBeMonsters]

flemke, I agree with you on the interior actually. That colour is very late 90s, and I'm sure I've seen it in a Saxo of the period. It certainly needs something a bit more classy. I'd be very tempted by a simple black and grey mix.

[MrDarkBlack]

Great photos, Joe. I feel a little bit critical saying this, but I wish some of them were taken with a polarizing filter. Maybe next time.

I actually like the interior too. Not sure if that blue is a bit overkill in person, but in the photos, it looks great to me.

[flemke]

Peloton25 said:

Rollcage said:

Nice to see that bracket make an appearance. Attention to detail!

Is it just me, or has that bracket been modified to solve Gordon's one complaint?

Ding ding ding!!!

Very good, Erik. I've had another made for him, but haven't had the chance to give it to him (he doesn't know about it, so would appreciate keeping it "private").

Peloton25 said:

P.S.: If you need one of these for your steering wheel center, I have one where the adhesive backing is still in place.

Thanks v much - I may make you an offer for that.
Present steering wheel (this is in reply to above comments from a couple of other PHers, also) is indeed from Porsche 993, the RS Clubsport to be precise. It's got a good diameter, a proper narrow section, and a minimum of the bumps and other rubbish that seem to be the fashion nowadays.
The steering on the car is now a bit light. If I go to and stay with the carbon matrix discs, the steering will be lighter still. After I've made the brakes decision, so that the steering weight is fixed, I'll decide whether it's too light. If too light, I'll probably just add a bit of caster, although I would have the option of a smaller wheel, such as the original, which, in fairness, is a lovely wheel to hold and to look at. If I keep the current Porsche wheel (by Momo, as it happens. Nardi did make the original wheel for the F1), then I may be looking for some decoration on the boss. It has to be said, however, that the plain satin black that is there now looks pretty good, at least to my eye.

[flemke]

vtgts300kw said:

Love the original badge.

I wish that there were a place to put another of those badges, as Bruce McLaren's legacy is an important part of the F1. I have not come up with another place (that wouldn't look gratuitous or too busy), so for the moment I think I'll leave it with the one.

[flemke]

hurstg01 said:

Joe911 said:

It appears Mclaren haven't fitted your steering wheel correctly

The car is looking good - the side strake is finished off well with the blue 'boundary' and it's refreshing to see it 'cut' at the end rather than tapered like other F1's.

I like the interior however the steering wheel, for me, looks out of place [perhaps it's the colour?] but it's feel and diameter are what counts.

Is it the colouring of the interior that is your issue, or the fabric?

You may be seeing a different colour for the wheel because of how the light is hitting it. The wheel was trimmed in exactly the same black leather as the other leather parts of the interior.

I object to both the blue colour and its fabric (there is also the same fabric in black, plus another fabric also in black, which by coincidence was also originally used in 993 Clubsport.

[flemke]

Guyr said:

Flemke,

Love the colours, much darker than expected in the real world. Also the tattoo looks very subtle and shows a some nice individuality on the car, without being garish as many thought likely.

It's great to see so many details in so many photos, but the setting for the photos is not great IMHO, I'm not a photographer, but it's far to busy in the backgrounds and shooting against so much green just isn't great for showing the colours.

I hoping that George (GFWilliams) didn't shoot these as these look nothing like the epic photos that he has done of Andys F1.

kind regards

Guy (We spoke through our Ruf connection some years ago in case you forgot)

I've not forgotten - 3437.

[F1GTRUeno]

I love the RS Clubsport wheel in itself but my word it doesn't fit at all in the F1's interior. I don't know whether it's because I'm so used to seeing it in 993 interiors but still, looks much too big compared to the original one as well (whether it is or not I'm sure you're a much better judge than me).

RE: the seats, would simply having stitching in the blue colour not work? Simple contrasting stitching usually looks pretty good and doesn't look overbearing colour wise.

Edited by F1GTRUeno on Thursday 15th September 14:26

[Joe911]

MrDarkBlack said:

Great photos, Joe. I feel a little bit critical saying this, but I wish some of them were taken with a polarizing filter. Maybe next time.

I did use a polarising filter for many of the shots. I'm a complete amateur with a camera and it was fun to do, though as with everything one wishes one had more time to play and experiment.

I took more shots than I posted. When I looked at which ones to post - most of those with the filter set to block reflections came out too dark - and the reflections of the clouds seemed to make it more interesting. I'm sure if I had more skill with a camera I could have removed and reflections and enhanced the dark areas.

The fact is though that when you see it in real life the reflections are there and part of the purpose was to show what the car really looks like.

Here's some examples with and without reflections ...







---

[Neil H]

That's a really nice colour.

[flemke]

Stack said:

All I think when I see the new colour scheme is mid 80's Brabham Bmw

The little squiggle motif even reminds me of thier Hissing Sid logo ..

I never had that in mind, but often thought of these:

[flemke]

HereBeMonsters said:

flemke, I agree with you on the interior actually. That colour is very late 90s, and I'm sure I've seen it in a Saxo of the period. It certainly needs something a bit more classy. I'd be very tempted by a simple black and grey mix.

Grey is too grey.

I shall figure something out, but need to live with the present configuration a bit in order to form some ideas.

[flemke]

F1GTRUeno said:

I love the RS Clubsport wheel in itself but my word it doesn't fit at all in the F1's interior. I don't know whether it's because I'm so used to seeing it in 993 interiors but still, looks much too big compared to the original one as well (whether it is or not I'm sure you're a much better judge than me).

RE: the seats, would simply having stitching in the blue colour not work? Simple contrasting stitching usually looks pretty good and doesn't look overbearing colour wise.

Maybe, but I think you have in mind stitching into leather, and leather is what I want to avoid (at least in the places next to one's skin). Stitching into textile doesn't really cut it, does it?

[R.P.M]

Joe911 said:

Any pictures of the original part to compare?

[PugwasHDJ80]

if i may proffer an opinion on the interior.....

At the moment you seem to be stuck at a bit of a half way house between that interesting "race car functional" look and a luxury interior look. In photos from a distance the bashboard almost looks "flocked", and the seets are utilitarian.

The blue stripes are obviously there to tie the exterior to the interior, but look too much like an afterthought for my tastes- an anology (and a not very accurate one) is seeing a £200 corsa with £1500 sparco racing seats- neither one thing nor t'other.

Flemke for you the macca seems very much a "car" rather than automotive porn, and is to be driven rather than just looked at and admired. as such it strikes me that the interior should be almost more interesting than the exterior- i've always wanted a supercar with and exterior that looks like its just won the mille miglia, but an interior that makes you "wow".

perhaps you have a choice of whether to try and beat the likes of Zonda with a unique interior, or go down the highly simplistic race car look but using a fit finish that would make any Formula one car driver weep.