Toe Knee

iTrader: (2)

Well prob a few more by now

Had a presentation yesterday with a few photo's etc at work to celebrate it all. Cant beleive ive been there 8months now Wasnt that long ago when i was at college training as a sprayer!!! time flys too quick

Ah well we got given a lovely bit of paper and a carbon slr keeyring and mclaren tie pin, result lol, bidding starts at £1

GARETH T

i only want one fo them

Rhys

Thats cool!

See a black SLR last weekend cruising down Ocean drive in Miami!

Rhys

Infact heres a pic lol

Rich_w

Yeah, but whose been building these "worlds best supercars"

It sure ain't Mercedes or McLaren. Too much Merc (and superglue and sticky back bits of foam!) and not enough McLaren F1 Won't ever change either, now Gordon Murray has left them!


Surely Pagani or Ferrari or even Porsche should have been sent that note

Keith B

What would be cool is if Murray came back and they make The Macca F2 or something. Something to supercede the latest stuff. Not top speed chasing though. 200 or 250 is pretty irrelevant if you ask me.

Rich_w

As long as McLaren is 40% owned by Mercedes it aint never going to happen! That was the main problem with the SLR. The original "Vision" Concept was drawn by an artist and not by engineers. One of the more interesting faults was that when the original concept car got to 200 the rear axle would try to lift off the road!

He wanted it to be mid engined, Merc said "We don't do mid engined cars"

so he said OK then.

They wanted a V12 originally, but he said I want the engine behind the front wheels. So they reluctantly COMPROMISED to a V8 AMG engine.

He said "I want side exhausts as well then"
They said "we dont do Side exhausts on a Mercedes"
So he showed them this picture



Murray talks about always having to fight Mercedes over every little thing. And that he would go to a meeting every other week or so and it would be 10 new faces every time. The F1 had something like 5 Full time engineers and that was it!

Once the SLR was into full time production. He walked because he realised it was never going to change, and he was never going to get to build a car that was a proper successor to the F1. Remember also that when they were designing the F1, Mercedes weren't even considered for the engine. Which tells you everything about how Money talks nowadays. There were plans for a Mid engined Gallardo/F430 competitor, that was going to be more like the F1 and badged as a Merc. But the project was off, then on now off again indefinetly. SLR hasnt been a money spinner for either company as Im sure Tony will testify. And its put them off considering a new venture together. If anything Merc and McLaren are now more against each other now, than they were when they commissioned the project.

Toe Knee

iTrader: (2)

Aint that true mate the "1000 of the worlds best production supercars" bit did make us laugh!!!

As u say thou, there will never be a car like the F1 again unless something drastic happens which is a crying shame, especially as they will never hold their value like the F1

When u look at the F1 u see a 1 off supercar, when u look at the SLR all u see is an SL merc!!! Surprising when u talk 2 ppl bout em and they get all excited and u dont

Will certainly be intereting to see what happens next year!!!