Ron's plans

[Derek Smith]

http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/headlines/news/detail/...

Ron is handing over to Whitmarsh from now on although he will still be on the pit wall at grands prix.

He's going to concentrate on McLaren road cars to compete with Ferrari.

Can't say I'm surprised and can't say I'm happy aoub it either.

[rev-erend]

Well - with their credentials .. they should do for it.

The 3 road cars they have produced have all become legends (M8, F1 and Mc Mercedes) .. so good luck to them.

Ron has chosen about the toughest time to do it with the looming recession but it would be great to see a British car go head to head with Ferrari.

[entropy]

I'm surprised with the road car thing. The last SLR and F1 weren't a commercial success. They're gonna go down the Lotus route of building lightweight cars, aren't they?

[MrKipling43]

Yeah, it should be very interesting to see what road cars they're planning. I just hope that they try to build 'spiritual successors' to the F1 rather than attempting to better it, or replace it.

By that I mean I'm hoping to see proper drivers' cars, not just 'Formula 1' technology in a cynical marketing fashion.

[Bombjack]

entropy said:

They're gonna go down the Lotus route of building lightweight cars, aren't they?

The P11 is a direct competitor to the Ferrari F430, in every way. It is intended to blow it into the weeds.

[VladD]

I thought this was going to be a sarcastic post showing a blue print of the 2008 F1 Ferrari. I've obviously been seriously affected by too much reading on GM.

[Ecurie Ecosse]

Well, he'll have a head start competing with the Ferrari road cars with that dossier of Ferrari info he has

[VladD]

Ecurie Ecosse said:

Well, he'll have a head start competing with the Ferrari road cars with that dossier of Ferrari info he has

It would be quite amusing if he bought a F430, painted it silver and launched it on April 1st next year.

[MrKipling43]

VladD said:

Ecurie Ecosse said:

Well, he'll have a head start competing with the Ferrari road cars with that dossier of Ferrari info he has

It would be quite amusing if he bought a F430, painted it silver and launched it on April 1st next year.

Yeah, with crudly sellotaped-on McLaren badges over the Ferrari stuff.

[greygoose]

entropy said:

I'm surprised with the road car thing. The last SLR and F1 weren't a commercial success. They're gonna go down the Lotus route of building lightweight cars, aren't they?

It would be great if they did something light and relatively affordable, I would imaging that the market for F430 type cars would be quite limited in the next few years.

[crossle]

And Lewis announces he want to stay at McLaren "for the rest of his career" (BBC)

[anonymous-user]

Autocar's guesswork... I'd have one!!

[VladD]

entropy said:

I'm surprised with the road car thing. The last SLR and F1 weren't a commercial success. They're gonna go down the Lotus route of building lightweight cars, aren't they?

The SLR was a Mercedes product and the F1 was a very limited run car that they used to win Le Mans.

I'm expecting these new cars to follow the McLaren philosophy, i.e. be more F1 than SLR, but be designed to be sold in larger numbers. More like an upmarket Lotus, if you like.

[Civpilot]

VladD said:

entropy said:

I'm surprised with the road car thing. The last SLR and F1 weren't a commercial success. They're gonna go down the Lotus route of building lightweight cars, aren't they?

The SLR was a Mercedes product and the F1 was a very limited run car that they used to win Le Mans.

I'm expecting these new cars to follow the McLaren philosophy, i.e. be more F1 than SLR, but be designed to be sold in larger numbers. More like an upmarket Lotus, if you like.

Your bold statement is slightly incorrect in it's inflection.

The F1 racing at LeMan's was only after being pestered by customers wanting a race version. It was never designed with racing in mind, quite the opposite in fact. Murray didn't want a race car and didn't design the car as one.

[rubystone]

The road cars are a lot less "exclusive" (and expensive) than their predecessors. They announced plans internally 3 months ago and are talking serious volumes.

[MrKipling43]

garyhun said:

Slightly photoshopped Gallardo Spyder... I'd have one!!

EFA

[flemke]

MrKipling43 said:

VladD said:

Ecurie Ecosse said:

Well, he'll have a head start competing with the Ferrari road cars with that dossier of Ferrari info he has

It would be quite amusing if he bought a F430, painted it silver and launched it on April 1st next year.

Yeah, with crudly sellotaped-on McLaren badges over the Ferrari stuff.

Atop the original parts that were crudely sello-taped at the Ferrari factory?

[VladD]

Civpilot said:

VladD said:

entropy said:

I'm surprised with the road car thing. The last SLR and F1 weren't a commercial success. They're gonna go down the Lotus route of building lightweight cars, aren't they?

The SLR was a Mercedes product and the F1 was a very limited run car that they used to win Le Mans.

I'm expecting these new cars to follow the McLaren philosophy, i.e. be more F1 than SLR, but be designed to be sold in larger numbers. More like an upmarket Lotus, if you like.

Your bold statement is slightly incorrect in it's inflection.

The F1 racing at LeMan's was only after being pestered by customers wanting a race version. It was never designed with racing in mind, quite the opposite in fact. Murray didn't want a race car and didn't design the car as one.

Ah, thanks for the correction, I didn't know that.

However, the F1 was a very low volume halo car, which is not what McLaren are trying to produce this time, I believe.

[Cara Van Man]

flemke said:

MrKipling43 said:

VladD said:

Ecurie Ecosse said:

Well, he'll have a head start competing with the Ferrari road cars with that dossier of Ferrari info he has

It would be quite amusing if he bought a F430, painted it silver and launched it on April 1st next year.

Yeah, with crudly sellotaped-on McLaren badges over the Ferrari stuff.

Atop the original parts that were crudely sello-taped at the Ferrari factory?

[Bombjack]

VladD said:

However, the F1 was a very low volume halo car, which is not what McLaren are trying to produce this time, I believe.

Well it's not all they're trying to produce.

If I recall correctly, P11 is also not the car they envisage making in large volumes, that's a whole different car.