Car Throttle

To give the team its full title, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes will launch their new race car for 2012 in February. The car is known as the MP4-27 (yes, McLaren have a knack for numerically-boring names) and the world will get its first glimpse of it on the first day of the month when it is revealed at the Team’s HQ in Woking, and just 6 days later it will begin its first 4 day test at a race track in Jerez. Naturally that first test will be very telling. Will this year’s car be faster than the new Red Bull? There have been many changes to the rules and regulations for the 2012 season and every team hopes to capitalise on the changes. Blown diffusers were

I'm back in North Carolina now, where you can swing a dead cat without hitting a Bentley.  On one hand, it sucks.  I like seeing exotics constantly.  On the other, it's nice that exotics remain exotic. I walked around LA the whole time with my camera around my neck for you guys - so I'll continue now with day two and three of car spotting in LA.  Hope you enjoy it! Classic cars, especially older Japanese cars, seem to have a much longer shelf life in California's relatively mild, dry climate.  This 240Z would have a lot more rust bubbles over here in North Carolina.  I could do without the period window louvers, but YMMV. You could do worse for your commute than driving an

It's been a long road to the McLaren MP4-12C. We attended an event last year for the opening of McLaren San Francisco and got to experience the MP4-12C (or 12C as they call it) first hand. For some customers, the wait has been years. It is about to get just a bit longer. AutoWeek is out with a report about slowed production at McLaren's plant in England. The delays are due to some minor quality issues that have impacted some of the first deliveries - a total of 59. While there was some rumors about the issues being safety or performance related, McLaren says that is not the case. Tony Joseph, head of McLaren North America says: "There are no safety concerns for

Singapore-based billionaire Peter Lim has completed a substantial investment in McLaren Automotive, the supercar manufacturer based in the London suburb of Woking. Forbes states that Lim derives his fortune from having a 5% share of palm oil giant Wilmar International. McLaren’s press statement announces that Lim will join the Automotive Board of Directors with immediate effect. The announcement of the addition of Lim to the board marks a significant step in McLaren’s global growth strategy as he has great influence in the Asian markets. It seems that McLaren hope that Lim will enable them to consolidate and strengthen the company’s position within Asia. Demand for what McLaren dub as the very first ‘pure’ McLaren car, the MP4-12C has been extremely high with Asian/Pacific retailers quoting

Continuous improvement - it is something necessary if you want to stay at the top of your game. Some automakers take it heart more than others. Many leave their products to last their model-cycle with just minor tweaks; others give mid-cycle enhancements (MCE) that we think are a good move. McLaren is a company known for its meticulous approach to product development, and it isn't waiting to improve its product. We experienced that first hand at a company launch event last year, meeting with executives of the company and getting a feel of the philosophy that is very deeply ingrained. PistonHeadsreports the company has taken input from automotive journalists, dealers and customers and already applied to the MP4-12C supercar. They include a new acoustic induction kit

In May, McLaren released videos of its racing series MP4-12C GT3 race car. The series is designed to prove the car's mettle and build further awareness for the MP4-12C. McLaren has a long history in racing. In February, production of the MP4-12C began at McLaren's site in Woking, England. There, over 1,000 cars are planned to be built over the next year. Reports have said that, based on those production numbers, the car is sold out for quite some time. Despite just recently introducing the MP4-12C GT3 racer, the company has already announced improvements to the car. Changes are making their first appearance at this weekend's Goodwill Festival of Speed in England. It will be running up the hill at the

Ahahaha, oh my. An "entry level" supercar - right, that makes sense.  It used to be there were sports cars that normal people could afford (Mustang, Corvette, Porsche 944, etc), and Supercars that only oil barons and filthy rich Enron executives could afford (F512M, Countach, Cizeta Moroder, EB110.)  As the industry moves along, though, we've actually developed upper and lower echelons of the supercar.  It's funny to think of something costing nearly a quarter-million dollars as being "entry level," but despite all the insanity of the Ferrari 458 Italia, it's not the craziest thing they make. There didn't used to be a lot of choice here, either - you could pretty much get an F355 or an Esprit, and a few others have crept in here

Late last year, McLaren confirmed a racing program for the MP4-12C. With an extensive history primarily rooted in motorsports, it was a no brainer. McLaren Automotive wants to get in on the action and attention afforded by racing the new MP4-12C. The result is the MP4-12C GT3 racing program, done in partnership with CRS Racing. For now, McLaren is starting out small, entering the 2012 European FIA GT3 Series in full force. This year, just one car will be fielded for competition, but McLaren is preparing 20 cars for next year's series. The company is accepting entries from private racing teams who would like to purchase the car to race. We walked away impressed when we checked out the McLaren MP4-12C at a private event in San

Hard-parking - Noun.  When one owns a high-performance vehicle which he only drives to and from the garage to the car show. Used in a sentence: "Stop hard parking your car, take it out to the tracks." Hard parking is that guy you know with the sweet M3 with the sweet BBS wheels and the sweet carbon-fibre everything and the sweet AP Racing big brake kit and Tein coilovers and carbon-bucket Recaros and oh my god it's a Grouppe M carbon intake, and all he does it park it up, sparkling clean with the hood up at Euro-snob car shows.  Boo on you, pansies.  Fast cars are meant to be driven heard.  Allow me to explain.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6m9Yomop92Y

A Lamborghini Countach was not equipped

The world's filled with boring, mundane, unremarkable automobiles. For every SVO Mustang, there are 10,000 Camry LE's.  For every Alfa Romeo Guilia Super sedan, there are an untold bazillion Honda Fits.  That's just how it is: mainstream sells.  As it turns out, very few people actually want the diesel, all wheel drive, manual-transmission station wagon that internet car enthusiasts say would sell like hotcakes. Sometimes, though, some of the most interesting cars out there are born out of some of the most dishwater-dull transportation appliances.  Here's my top ten - as always, feel free to leave a comment telling me what I left out at the bottom!  On we go. 10) Mitsubishi Galant VR-4 Mitsubishi's Galant sedan is... hold on, let me go to Wikipedia, I can't