2021 Mclaren 720s on 2040-cars

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McLaren's new F1 car is love at first sight for driver Carlos Sainz

WOKING — Spanish driver Carlos Sainz got into the Valentine's Day spirit by declaring love at first sight on Thursday as McLaren showed off its 2019 Formula One car and lineup. The blue and papaya orange MCL34 car was unveiled by 34 team employees at the former champions' Woking headquarters before Sainz and 19-year-old British rookie teammate Lando Norris stepped up to admire it. "I like the new colors. My teammate, I'll see in a couple of months if I like him," joked Sainz, 24, who has joined from Renault. The pair, replacing Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne, are McLaren's first all-new driver lineup in 12 years, and former reserve Norris, 19, is the Renault-powered team's youngest ever driver. "I've got a lot to live up to," said the teenager. "There is a lot on my shoulders, a lot of people relying on myself and Carlos." This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. McLaren, the once-dominant team of champions like Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost, has not won a race since 2012 or a championship since Lewis Hamilton's first in 2008. It finished sixth overall last year, an improvement on three years with Honda in which McLaren plumbed the depths of disappointment. The overall position was flattered, however, by Force India being stripped of all its points and being replaced by Racing Point, and McLaren still have a long way to go to catch the sport's top manufacturer teams. Team boss Zak Brown, who has brought in new sponsors and presided over a management shakeup that saw Racing Director Eric Boullier leave last year, recognized it would be a long road back from sixth place. "We're in a rebuilding process and it's going to be a journey," said the American, who will have James Key joining as technical head later in the year after a long 'gardening leave' from Toro Rosso. Former Porsche Le Mans team boss Andreas Siedl will join as managing director on May 1.

Here's the chassis for McLaren's 650S replacement, full car coming soon

McLaren announced today that the replacement for its 650S supercar will make its debut on March 7 at the Geneva auto show. It also unveiled the underpinnings of the new car, which it calls the Monocage II. The chassis is clearly something the company is proud of – it will offer an option called "Visible Monocage" that will leave the interior side of the A-pillars exposed. McLaren does have reason to be proud of the new chassis, as it brings a number of improvements. The company says the door openings are wider, and the sills have been lowered, which should make it much easier to climb into the new car. The company also claims a lower center of gravity, and a lighter dry weight than a comparable 650S. Specifically, the new car will have a dry weight of 2829 pounds, which McLaren says is 40 pounds less than that comparable 650S. That's a pretty sizable reduction. This new Super Series McLaren is also the first of what will be 15 new models the company will release by 2022. Since the Monocage chassis is shared among today's McLarens, expect Monocage II to be used in most if not all of those new vehicles. McLaren hasn't provided many details on what the other 14 models will be, but expect a number of convertible and ultra high-performance variants, many of which will replace current offerings in the Sports, Super, and Ultimate Series. Hybrids will be a big part of the product rollout, too. McLaren has said that its next hybrid will appear sometime closer to 2022, with half of the lineup using hybrid tech by that date. (Currently, only the range-topping P1 features a gas-electric powertrain.) In the meantime, though, we'll be looking forward to seeing the complete 650S replacement this March. Related Video:

Rare Ford Mustang ASC McLaren is a piece of '80s history

You can't blame the dealer for advertising this oddball convertible as a "Ford Mustang McLaren." The name certainly rolls off the tongue better than "Ford Mustang ASC McLaren," and it makes the car sound a whole lot more appealing. However, without the 'ASC' in there, you don't get the full picture. And when it comes to the world of strange automotive collaborations—particularly those of the 80s—you most definitely want the full picture. ASC McLaren Mustangs were the result of fortuitous timing, and a project that was already underway between the American Sunroof Company and McLaren (no, not that McLaren). Detroit custom car builder Peter Muscat brought the idea of a Mustang with a tonneau cover to ASC after chopping the top off a Fox body on his own, and in turn ASC founder Heinz Pretcher brought the concept to Ford. Big blue was already in the midst of relaunching a Mustang convertible, which had been absent from the lineup for 10 years, so initially it was the Mercury Capri that got the ASC/McLaren treatment. The result was a car that was more expensive than a Mustang GT, and coupled with declining sales of the Capri overall, the car was discontinued in 1986, paving the way for the ASC McLaren Mustang you see here on eBay. With the change over to the Mustang as their platform for modification in 1987, ASC McLaren were given the opportunity to create something notable. Customizing the Capri was one thing, but the Mustang name carries with it iconic status. So what did ASC McLaren do with their chance to leave their mark on automotive history? They gave the car some visual modifications, both inside and out, but like the Capri, left the powertrain untouched. Also like the Capri, the cars still ended up costing more than $20,000. Between the high price, the economic woes of the late 80s, and disputes between Muscat and Pretcher, the ASC McLaren Mustangs were no more by 1990. During the three year run, 1,806 ASC McLaren conversions were completed, making them quite rare, especially low mileage examples like this one. The 5.0 V8s are known for being stout engines, capable of handling serious modification, and logging lots of miles, so there are no concerns there. The 5-speed Borg-Warner transmission that came in all Mustang GTs is also known for being a durable unit, the '87-'90 versions especially so. The main concern here would be the life the car has lived, and more importantly where it has lived.