Generally I agree. Most of the cars looked like crap although he always did acknowledge that they looked bad in pics. Anyway they sold like bloody hotcakes. Really shows how much all of us forum hacks and armchair designers know about designing cars!
Do you mind scanning the page following the page on "photo 12"? I'd like to see the remainder of the sidebar.
Is that the customer story sidebar? Peter Read's comment made me laugh "the 458's front looks like it had a fight with a can opener and lost!" I thought that sidebar was very indicative of the real story that is going on with a lot of Ferrari's affluent customers.
Some round up of the Silverstone activities: http://www.f1sa.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=27627:f1-former-formula-1-grand-prix-winner-john-watson-drives-new-mclaren-mp4-12c&catid=1:f1&Itemid=157
i like the bit were he says between 80-130 it feels as fast as my formula 1 car,that was only in normal mode !!!
Don't get too excited....he said his OLD F1 car. That being said, that was the start of the turbo era for some teams. The 1981 Ferrari F1 cars were using the 1.5L twin turbo'd engines producing something in the range of 550-600hp in racing trim (and much more in qualifying) in cars that weighed 1400 lbs. Now the HP figures were calculated using an older formula, so they are not really comparable (newer calculations yield lower results I believe), but still we are talking .85-.9HP per kg...not too shabby. The MP4-12C would be in the range of .4hp per kg....so about half the power to weight ratio. Here's what those engines looked like...pretty impressive to think they were doing this in 1981! I don't think the McLarens were yet using turbo's? Renault started first and Ferrari followed suit. To keep the turbos spinning - to avoid turbo lag (no onboard computers back then to optimize everything) - they injected fuel directly into the turbos under braking and cornering! Brave men drove those cars! When you strip away all the piping, the basic block on these things were the size of the engine in my MGB (1.8L). The MG put out less than 100HP. There were rumors that in later turbo years some of the F1 cars were over 1000HP in qualifying trim. Remember that there wee no restrictions on number of engines, etc. like there are now. ---update---- McLaren was using 3 Litre normally aspirated Cosworths at the time making something like 490HP in same weight chassis. Picture is MP4-1B that Watson drove. They started using turbos in 1982. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Awesome! Thanks for posting that info and pics. The turbo era was quite a spectacle. In fact it has got me thinking. The one aspect of the 12C's performance that is still not quite fathomable (to me, at least) is the straight-line acceleration. Even with superior aero, the claimed figures are not lining up. Do you think it is possible that the 592hp number is conservative? i.e. It would seem to make more sense if the real number was around 640-650hp. Not trying to start a rumor, here. But we know turbos leave some "wiggle room" when it comes to these things. What would be the motives, and conversely the consequences, of McLaren understating the power rating? Edit: and keep in mind that Mc engineers have let it slip that actual top speed is at least 210mph.
See reference to "Idischleife Concept". Would line up well with the idea of the sudpension adjusting on the fly at the Ring. http://bit.ly/ha8tPp
i think the acceleration stats do stack up,take the LP670 ,dry weight 2.35 kilo/hp,12c 2.19 kilo/hp,more grippy tyres ,launch control,less frontal area/drag ,non exsistant gearchange time .0-200 lambo 9.9 0.200 12c 8.9 0-300 29.9 lambo 0-300 24.5 12c all very possible,and would Ron really want to be proven wrong,we will have to wait till may
I'm not really insinuating that Ron's claims are wrong. Rather that maybe he is intentionally sandbagging with the official HP rating, for some reason. For example, we know Nissan may have used the tactic with the GT-R. Just wondering if anybody thinks there is a valid reason to do so.
I know some of you are after less look-at-me colors, but I happen to think the 12C in Azure Blue is just beautiful. >8^) ER Image Unavailable, Please Login
Thanks for the link, it made for an interesting read. I get the feeling it will be regurgitated verbatim when they finally do review the MP4 on the program (unless Clarkson does a complete 180, which he has been known to do on occasion).
A friend of mine (who is a designer) said the best designs are the ones that get people to put their money on the barrelhead. So I guess my opinion isn't worth much $$!
+1 ...it also looks deadly in Black Sapphire, which gives you a bit of blue when it hits the sun, but you get a black car the rest of the time (think darker version of Aston's Antrim Blue).
+1 Thanks for the link... You know - Jezza has always hated "flappy paddles" (whether they're good or bad). I personally think he just is too dense to understand them. I remember when he tested the AM Vanquish (which, admittedly, had a "bad" paddle-box, at least initially), he pulled the left (downshift) paddle and when nothing happened he looked at the camera and yelled, "I want 2nd gear NOW NOW NOW, Aston!" as he kept pulling the left paddle. Well, if you looked closely (I froze the video on my dvr), you could see the tach was way up in the rev-range and that the car wasn't allowing him to downshift at a speed which would over-rev the engine. It's idiot-proof. And, apparently, Clarkson-proof by extension. He is entertaining, however. Unfortunate that the little "comparison chart" shows the rev-limit as 7K when it's 8.5K. That 1,500 is the difference between "car" and "exotic."
If you go into the online configuration tool you can enlarge the color wheel when selecting your choice. Carbon Black and Sapphire Black are next to each other on the color wheel and the difference is pretty clear, but here they are side-by-side to save you the trouble. I also made a quick screengrab of the side view they offer with Carbon on top. >8^) ER Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
