Glimpsing the future

[John Z Goriup]

Writing the caption for the yellow McLaren 12C Spyder photo in the Pebble Beach segment of the Monterey Week thread, I remembered taking a number of shots of an MP4 - 12C, exhibited by the then newly appointed McLaren distributor for Northern California at the 2011 Marin County Concours. The reason I so distinctly remember the moment, is almost slapping my forehead and thinking " that's it, why has it taken so long to figure out how to construct a modern sports car ? " is the startlingly logical, orderly and sound manner in which this car is designed and assembled ( Photos 6-13 ).

The reason I view the MP4 as a significant step forward in the development & evolution of the modern high-performance sports car ( I will do anything and go to any length reasonably imaginable to avoid the use of the silly, inaccurate and non-descriptive term supercar) is that even though McLaren may not have been the very first to utilize such a multi-materials, modular chassis design, I believe they were the first to recognize the tremendous advantages, technical and economical, of adopting this methodology officially for their future models and to build a purpose-designed factory for the exclusive production of this model to maximize production effieciency well beyond what is practiced nowadays to individually hand-fabricate other, more exotic and even higher priced limited production sports cars.

Studying the rolling display chassis, it's easy to see how each major chassis part can be designed initially to the optimum configuration of strength, lightness and safety, how necessary maintenance work can be readily performed, how the modular assembly method would facilitate repair / replacement of damaged components, all of it by any trained dealership anywhere in the world. Conversly, from an internal marketing / development & production standpoint of potential models based on the MP4 design, it's equally easy to see how an appropriate localized re-design to any one of the three major chassis components ( front metal frame, central tub, rear metal frame section ) could effectively accommodate a multitude of changes, from the possibility of a possible 2+2 body configuration, to adapting the rear frame section to accept a V-10, a V-6, KERS, who knows what, or perhaps incorporating all-wheel drive, all without necessitating a completely new chassis. The headroom for continued development and refinement of the basic chassis seems virtually limitless. It also seems pretty obvious to me that this method of building premium high-performance sports cars will likely become the the wave of the future, once all the contenders make the necessary investments in the respective technologies to remain competitive.

[John Z Goriup]

The following five photos are of a second MP4-12C, part of the same McLaren display, but stripped of the body to show the bare chassis, power-train and running gear.

[John Z Goriup]

and another 3 photos to finish the McLaren portion...............followed by two final photos showing a similarly stripped Lamborghini Aventador Chassis ( taken at the Concept Car display at last years' Pebble Beach Concours ) illustrating the dramatic overall similarity in design and execution. Sure, the Lamborghini displays more strength, stiffness, weight, labor & complexity, but then it also retails for almost twice the price of the MP4, and perhaps more importantly, it is produced by a German-owned Italian car manufacturer

JZG

[serie1926]

Absolutely brilliant! Thanks John!

[uptheorg]

Here is a very well-produced video tour of the McLaren factory that builds these cars:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVGlqjCufMY

[RSTarga]

This all came from the mind of Gordon Murray. If you google him he has taken F1 design and used it now to design a small car. The only real problem with all of this is of course, once the chassis is damaged its a throw away.

[John Z Goriup]

This all came from the mind of Gordon Murray.

Gordon was almost solely responsible for the idea and design of the first modern McLaren road car, the ground-breaking and sensational three-seat, BMW V-12 powered F1, envisioned in the late '80s and actually going on sale in the early '90s, but with only 88 road-cars being produced. It was so good and compleat, that with only relatively minor modifications, mostly aerodynamic, an F1 was only the second car to ever win the LeMans 24 hours at its first attempt. Gordon's involvement continued into the mid 2000 era, but he left Ron Dennis's employ in '95, and set up his own design / consulting firm. The MP4, embodying a fundamentally different design philosophy, is the exclusive brainchild of the "next" in-house generation at McLaren with only minimal input from Murray as a paid contractor.

Re the chassis being a throw-away - almost the whole point and an extremely important aspect of the modular chassis used in the MP4 is the huge benefit of being able to replace or alter only the affected component(s) of the assembled chassis, as required by circumstances, without the necessity for a complete new chassis or having to return the whole car to the works, current practice with most other "supercars"......how I hate that word. McLaren, in creating the MP4, like most other premium, high-performance sports car builders, have recognized that their main markets nowadays are in the Middle & far East, i.e. much farther away than the traditional Euro high-end market where accident damaged cars would be delivered to Woking by truck through the "Chunnel", and that factory repair / maintenance of these cars would be utterly impractical and completely unacceptable to their clients, on customer service grounds as well as the sheer number in which the MP4 series is planned on being produced. Wisely, McLaren have therefore placed their emphasis on advanced local dealer training & facility investment to keep these vehicles running, based on available local parts & expertise.

If anything, pompous, arrogant Ron Dennis is a devastatingly effective planner and a thinker, as demonstrated by putting in place the tightly connected package approach of the whole MP4 project, where every tiny aspect of production, marketing, design, after-sale service and future development has been considered in excruciating detail from every aspect.

[RSTarga]

John,
I meant the "concept" for this type of construction came from Murray and of course John Barnard with the first carbon fibre tub.. Of course this McLaren came from another designer. I think the back engine carrier and front module would be replaced complete as would the central tub. I can't believe there would actually be welding or patching of any damage. Sort of like Porsche just sending a complete engine out instead of permitting dealers to repair.