McLaren: The Road Cars 2010-24 (book)
Discussion
My pre-order copy of this new book arrived on Thursday, and I've now read it. As the blurb correctly notes, it is "The first and only book dedicated entirely to McLaren’s incredible road cars" from 2010 on, making it attractive for owners and fans.
What you get is a very nicely produced and satisfyingly hefty coffee-table book, with a lot of high quality brochure-type and studio photography. It's a chunky book and uses its length to go into detail about not only McLaren's core range but also to cover every special edition and one-off they've done since 2010 in detail. It's definitely a comprehensive tome, and bang up to date ending with the Artura and 750S.
What it doesn't do in my view is tell the story of McLaren Automotive. Its view is very much that of a sequence of car magazine articles; for each new model, the specs and details from the Press Release, some nice photos, a few interesting insights McLaren choose to reveal about the car's history perhaps, and then an overview and quotes from contemporary reviews. This is fine as far as it goes.
However, it lacks the depth of insight into the development process that Gordon Murray chose to share in Driving Ambition, being more of an outside view. At the same time it focuses more on celebrating the cars than on recounting the ups and downs of the company, or the trade-offs they were making. There are some intriguing nuggets here and there, talking about an influx of new engineers who contributed to the 650S' changes over the 12C or Ron Dennis' initial reaction to seeing the P1. However there's not much of the context behind the individual decisions.
I guess I'm really pining for a book which doesn't (yet) exist. One that would tell the story of how McLaren went from partnering with BMW to partnering with Mercedes to going it alone, with an engine derived from a Nissan Le Mans design via Ricardo. Crucially, the influence of ex-Lotus engineers on the car's recipe - composite body, no LSD, relatively narrow front tyres, hydraulic PAS with lots of feed/kick-back (delete as appropriate). How they lost Gordon Murray whose F1 established the company as a road car maker. What differences did it make when Ron Dennis left in 2017? How the Sports Series was both a success (more than doubling sales to over 4000 a year) but also a failure (costing significantly more to make than intended). How the company responded to the initial quality issues with the 12C, the ups and downs of profit and loss and changing ownership and the pressures and opportunities that presented management with.
What you get, in terms of words, is 80% McLaren press releases and quotes given to journalists, and 20% contemporary car journalism reports on the models. There's a lot of detailed information in here and nice photos. As long as you know what you're getting - the kind of book you wouldn't be at all surprised to see sitting on a coffee table in a McLaren dealer's waiting room - then there's little to criticise; the book succeeds on its own terms as a comprehensive and high quality publication.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0764367315
What you get is a very nicely produced and satisfyingly hefty coffee-table book, with a lot of high quality brochure-type and studio photography. It's a chunky book and uses its length to go into detail about not only McLaren's core range but also to cover every special edition and one-off they've done since 2010 in detail. It's definitely a comprehensive tome, and bang up to date ending with the Artura and 750S.
What it doesn't do in my view is tell the story of McLaren Automotive. Its view is very much that of a sequence of car magazine articles; for each new model, the specs and details from the Press Release, some nice photos, a few interesting insights McLaren choose to reveal about the car's history perhaps, and then an overview and quotes from contemporary reviews. This is fine as far as it goes.
However, it lacks the depth of insight into the development process that Gordon Murray chose to share in Driving Ambition, being more of an outside view. At the same time it focuses more on celebrating the cars than on recounting the ups and downs of the company, or the trade-offs they were making. There are some intriguing nuggets here and there, talking about an influx of new engineers who contributed to the 650S' changes over the 12C or Ron Dennis' initial reaction to seeing the P1. However there's not much of the context behind the individual decisions.
I guess I'm really pining for a book which doesn't (yet) exist. One that would tell the story of how McLaren went from partnering with BMW to partnering with Mercedes to going it alone, with an engine derived from a Nissan Le Mans design via Ricardo. Crucially, the influence of ex-Lotus engineers on the car's recipe - composite body, no LSD, relatively narrow front tyres, hydraulic PAS with lots of feed/kick-back (delete as appropriate). How they lost Gordon Murray whose F1 established the company as a road car maker. What differences did it make when Ron Dennis left in 2017? How the Sports Series was both a success (more than doubling sales to over 4000 a year) but also a failure (costing significantly more to make than intended). How the company responded to the initial quality issues with the 12C, the ups and downs of profit and loss and changing ownership and the pressures and opportunities that presented management with.
What you get, in terms of words, is 80% McLaren press releases and quotes given to journalists, and 20% contemporary car journalism reports on the models. There's a lot of detailed information in here and nice photos. As long as you know what you're getting - the kind of book you wouldn't be at all surprised to see sitting on a coffee table in a McLaren dealer's waiting room - then there's little to criticise; the book succeeds on its own terms as a comprehensive and high quality publication.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0764367315
samoht said:
Thanks for the link @samoht, I’ve just ordered it. Cheers.Frankychops said:
Thanks 
Frankychops said:
Classic McLaren, it's depreciated by 33% already! 
Frankychops said:
Good find, thanks. samoht said:
the book succeeds on its own terms as a comprehensive and high quality publication.
Thanks, that was an excellent review of the book.I'm waiting for mine to arrive.
btw, I think you will find this video interesting:
https://youtu.be/Y6FLkGFMnUQ?si=RBcyZfyezcUgODbD
Hello Samoht.
Thank you for your excellent review of my book, McLaren The Road Cars, it's very considered and insightful. As you highlight it's lacking in details on the business, deliberately so, this was always meant to be a celebration of the cars - as I've been fortunate enough to attend the launches of the majority of them. I'll leave the business analysis of the company to someone more qualified than myself...
Yes, I use the press material, but there's a sizeable amount of additional quotes/insight from interviews I've conducted while on those launch events, as well as interviews I arranged specifically when researching and writing this book. I'd love to have had the time/resources to compile a book as thorough as Driving Ambition, indeed, I don't cover the F1 in this book simply because it's been so expertly and comprehensively covered by that title.
Oh, and I'd love it if McLaren dealers stocked it, it might mean I'd actually make some return from many, many months of work, but thank you for buying it, and for also highlighting it here.
Best,
Kyle
Thank you for your excellent review of my book, McLaren The Road Cars, it's very considered and insightful. As you highlight it's lacking in details on the business, deliberately so, this was always meant to be a celebration of the cars - as I've been fortunate enough to attend the launches of the majority of them. I'll leave the business analysis of the company to someone more qualified than myself...
Yes, I use the press material, but there's a sizeable amount of additional quotes/insight from interviews I've conducted while on those launch events, as well as interviews I arranged specifically when researching and writing this book. I'd love to have had the time/resources to compile a book as thorough as Driving Ambition, indeed, I don't cover the F1 in this book simply because it's been so expertly and comprehensively covered by that title.
Oh, and I'd love it if McLaren dealers stocked it, it might mean I'd actually make some return from many, many months of work, but thank you for buying it, and for also highlighting it here.
Best,
Kyle
Hello 2deano5,
I've learned during this that writing a book is no way to riches. Yes I may get royalties, but the book would need to sell in the tens of thousands for it ever to come anywhere near close to paying me back for the time I spent writing it... What the hell, I figured if I was going to do a book on McLaren, it ought to be as comprehensive as the cars deserve.
As such I'd just be delighted if you buy it, read it, and enjoy it, and if you do pick up a copy, thanks. I'll be at Goodwood FoS in July, if you want me to ruin it by signing one...
Also, and I know there's a lot of PH people who are sticklers for typos etc, it's only just gone for a reprint (as the original run has sold out), so I've had the chance to correct some of the additional commas etc that the sub-editor should have picked up on but didn't. They've irked me since it was published, and while it'll never be perfect (85,000= words is a lot to get 100% right), it's certainly better now than it was.
Best,
Kyle
I've learned during this that writing a book is no way to riches. Yes I may get royalties, but the book would need to sell in the tens of thousands for it ever to come anywhere near close to paying me back for the time I spent writing it... What the hell, I figured if I was going to do a book on McLaren, it ought to be as comprehensive as the cars deserve.
As such I'd just be delighted if you buy it, read it, and enjoy it, and if you do pick up a copy, thanks. I'll be at Goodwood FoS in July, if you want me to ruin it by signing one...
Also, and I know there's a lot of PH people who are sticklers for typos etc, it's only just gone for a reprint (as the original run has sold out), so I've had the chance to correct some of the additional commas etc that the sub-editor should have picked up on but didn't. They've irked me since it was published, and while it'll never be perfect (85,000= words is a lot to get 100% right), it's certainly better now than it was.
Best,
Kyle
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