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British automakers take costly precautions as Brexit 'no deal' fears grow

LONDON — Carmakers in Britain have triggered some Brexit contingency plans, such as certifying models in the EU, and are working on redrawing production schedules and stockpiling more parts to defend against any loss of unfettered trade after Brexit. The moves are aimed at ensuring plants, which rely on the just-in-time delivery of tens of thousands of components, can keep operating after Brexit on March 29, but will add costs and bureaucracy which could risk their long-term viability. London and Brussels hope to agree a deal by the end of the year to avoid tariffs and trade barriers, but Prime Minister Theresa May's proposals have been criticized by both Brexiteers, who want a cleaner break from the bloc, and the European Union. McLaren Automotive is looking at having its cars certified by both a British and an EU agency to smooth sales. It is also planning to stockpile critical components and change shipments into the EU around Brexit if there is disruption. "I will sell a little more in January and February and plan to pick the volume up in May and give us a leaner period through the change point," Chief Executive Mike Flewitt told Reuters. BMW, which said last week it would move the annual summer-time shutdown of its British Mini plant next year to April, is looking for lorry parking areas and warehousing on both sides of the channel and is seeking to sign contracts to lease certain locations, a spokesman said. It is also investing in IT systems to handle any new red tape as carmakers estimate tens of thousands of new documents could be needed if tariffs and customs are imposed. The German carmaker's Brexit plans are costing millions of pounds, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters. But Honda, which builds 10 percent of Britain's 1.67 million cars at its Swindon plant in southern England, is not in the market to buy "huge amounts of warehousing space," its Europe boss Ian Howells told Reuters. "It's been a very precise calculation or estimation of what components need to be brought in," he said, adding the firm could also alter its output to sell more into the EU at the start of next year. Waste of money? Many British carmakers have also asked suppliers to look into how they would handle delays at ports, executives told Reuters, as thousands of parts, engines and finished models move between Britain and the continent every day.

McLaren 600LT First Drive Review | Longer, lighter and a lust for life

BUDAPEST, Hungary — There is no point when driving a McLaren 570S where you think, "Boy, this feels a bit soft, flabby and underpowered — what it really needs are some extra horses and a sharper setup." And yet that's exactly what McLaren has done for the 600LT, the brand's newest addition to the Sports Series and latest chapter in the "Longtail" story. Literally, this equates to nearly three inches of extra aero-enhanced bodywork and more power. Emotionally, it represents a lot more. Given that the previous installments were the F1 GTR and 675LT, you have some sense of where the 600LT sits, and the expectation it needs to live up to. Junior supercar or not, there's nothing babyish about this car's intent. My previous experience of McLaren Sports Series cars on track includes lapping Silverstone in the 570GT. On street-spec Pirelli P Zero tires and with steel brakes, this supposedly comfort-oriented model pulled 168 mph down Hangar Straight and is agile enough to shame supposedly track-focused supercars from a class above. Yet the 600LT has an extra 30 horsepower, carries significantly less weight, and wears semi-slick Trofeo R rubber on its spindly forged wheels. Figures include peak output of 592 horsepower, 0-60 mph in 2.8 seconds, 0-124 mph in 8.2 seconds and a top speed of 204 mph, and cornering speeds have increased compared to the more powerful and sophisticated 675LT. Just how sharp do they want to make this thing? The answer comes on another F1 track, this time the Hungaroring on the outskirts of Budapest. Before I'm allowed out in the LT, I get a handful of sighting laps in a 570S, until now the sharpest Sports Series in the range and already a formidably fast and agile car in its own right. Like any McLaren, it has a lovely combination of superb visibility, a driver-focused cockpit, pin-sharp controls and huge punch from the 3.8-liter, twin-turbocharged V8. Where others mask their forced induction, McLaren has always seemed proud to highlight the Millennium Falcon-style rush of boost, the trademark lack of curb weight offsetting any sense of low-rev lethargy. And sure enough, the 570S demands that its driver is on top of things. Greedy throttle applications require corrections at the wheel, while late braking from high speeds causes the rear axle to break loose, writhing about in marked contrast to the locked-down Super Series 650S or 720S. What can I expect to be different in the 600LT?

Jenson Button's McLaren P1 is for sale

On the lookout for your next hypercar purchase? Well, look no more, because Jenson Button just put his McLaren P1 up for sale. The 2009 F1 world champion bought the P1 new, and has only put on 551 miles since. Button says he's selling it because he doesn't get to drive it anymore since he moved to the U.S. In his Instagram "for sale listing" he says he got to drive it a month ago for the last time — to Silverstone for a WEC race, no less. A McLaren P1 doesn't need anything for it to be considered cool, but knowing it was owned and driven by Jenson Button makes it even cooler than when it rolled out of the factory in Woking. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. This one was special-ordered (weren't all P1's special-ordered?) with MSO's Track Mode 2 upgrade, which puts the car in track mode without dropping the ride height. It has plenty of other options that you can read about in the actual listing here if your interest is piqued enough. A $2.1 million setback is about double what the car listed for new, but if even a small bit of that magical 2009 Brawn World Championship season rubbed off on the car, it might be worth it.Related Video: Featured Gallery Jenson Button's McLaren P1 McLaren Supercars

McLaren divulges Ultimate Series Speedtail hypercar will make more than 986 hp

With as much as we know about the McLaren Speedtail, we're still missing the finest, most important details. Now that hypercars are no longer unicorns but regularly released products, upper three- and four-digit horsepower figures need to be placed in the context of the segment and technical aspects to make the most impact. However, the latest morsel of news on the Speedtail is another step in the right direction. McLaren Automotive CEO Mike Flewitt told TopGear magazine at an owner's club gathering that the next Ultimate Series champion would produce "more than 1,000 PS," meaning at least 986 horsepower. Flewitt would only say about the rest of the engine that it will employ a recognizable architecture and "a slightly different hybrid application" than in the P1. We'll take that as euphemism for the 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 that features throughout the Sports and Super Series ranges, making 426 hp in the 570S GT4 and 710 hp in the 720S. The P1 used a 3.8-liter twin-turbo V8 making 727 hp, helped by an electric motor adding another 176 hp, for 903 in total. We're not sure how much any owner will feel the 83 hp difference between his P1 and his Speedtail, but Flewitt said the company's focused "on attributes rather than engines." What an owner will register is the Speedtail being much faster than the P1; the latter was limited to 217 miles per hour, the English automaker has already pledged the Speedtail will be the fastest-ever McLaren, which means eclipsing the 243 mph that the F1 achieved. It's likely that the 106 Speedtail owners will also note the three-seat coupe is more comfortable than both than its spiritual inspiration the F1, and the P1. Flewitt said his team's developed a hypercar that's "super comfortable, super to drive," and a "better driving proposition" than some of the multi-million-dollar competition going for top speed records. Speaking of top speed records, the McLaren Speedtail won't be going for any. The horsepower wars might not be over, but when an Aston Martin road car makes 1,130 hp, the battle's effectively been won by everyone who can take the field. Upstarts are turning their armaments on the physical walls of top speed, and Flewitt wants none of it.

2018 McLaren 720S Drivers' Notes | Menacing middle child

It's been seven years since McLaren launched the MP4-12C (later simplified to just 12C), the vehicle that kicked off the British brand's three-tiered assault on the supercar market. The Sports Series is currently made up of the 540, 570, and 600 lineups. The 720S is the only member of the Super Series, one rung higher up the ladder from Sport and one below the Ultimate level of the McLaren Senna. The McLaren 720S is powered by a twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V8 engine that spins out 710 horsepower and 568 pound-feet of torque through a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. That's sufficient to push the sinewy supercar from 0-60 in 2.8 seconds and on to a top speed of 212 miles per hour. We tested two different 720S models. The silver car pictured here boasts a number of options, including a Luxury package that adds exterior trim in Dark Palladium, engine bay ambient lighting, and premium leather for the heated and power-operated seats. Our test car was also fitted with a front splitter, air intakes, and door mirrors in carbon fiber, and a sports exhaust system. Total price came to $342,135. Consumer Editor Jeremy Korzeniewski: The McLaren 720S is one of the most impressive vehicles available to buy today. It looks incredible, with swoopy good looks that capitalize on air intakes that cut deep into the car's bodywork to create negative space and add drama to the supercar's design. And it drives even better. My test car was a shade of silver that I don't really think does the car any favors, and doesn't stand out like the purple-hued 720S my colleagues in Michigan drove. Still, as I shrieked down highways and byways in and around Seattle, the McLaren had no problem attracting admiring stares and inciting impromptu rolling drag race offers. These, naturally, I declined. I already knew I had the fastest car on the block. The 720S is powered by a twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V8 engine that feels like a major advancement from the company's older 3.8-liter unit. It revs like an F1 car, plowing through first and second gears so fast that its driver is squarely into suspended-license speeds in the blink of an eye. But despite its headline-grabbing spec sheet, the 720S can actually be quite docile out on the road. Comfort mode softens the 720S nicely for bumpy, potholed roads. Sport mode stiffens everything up perfectly, and Track mode loosens up the electronic nannies so far that I wouldn't use it on the street. It is Track mode, after all.

2019 McLaren 720S GT3 race car is barely a 720S anymore

For a company with as much racing history as McLaren, it's no surprise that it is introducing a new race car based on the 720S. What is interesting is that there's very little in common between the 2019 McLaren 720S GT3 race car and the regular 720S. The company says that over 90 percent of the super coupe have been changed for the racer. Among the changes are a body that is completely reshaped compared with the road car. This includes the massively enlarged front grille, wider fenders and aggressive aerodynamic parts. The engine is based on the road car's twin-turbo 4.0-liter V8 and retains the same displacement, but it has been rebuilt for race duty. Power numbers aren't available. The engine is also mated to a six-speed sequential transmission, rather than the seven-speed dual-clutch unit in the road car. Other race-ready upgrades include several adjustable parts including the limited-slip differential, shocks, traction control and ABS. Those come standard, but there are some options such as a rear-view camera, parking sensors and tire pressure monitoring. Though power hasn't been announced, pricing has. For teams not directly backed by McLaren, the price for a 720S GT3 is $564,000. That's roughly twice the cost of the road-going 720S, which starts at a bit over $280,000. Deliveries will begin next year in time for a number of GT3-class racing series. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

UPDATE: Formula 1 Halo protector surely saved a life at Belgian Grand Prix

The hotly-debated F1 halo cockpit protection structure got much attention over the weekend, as the one mounted on Charles Leclerc's Sauber appears to have successfully deflected Fernando Alonso's McLaren from hitting Leclerc on a first-lap incident at the Belgian Grand Prix. The scrapes on the Sauber's halo work well to convert former disbelievers into supporting the structure. There is a real chance Leclerc could have been seriously hurt or killed in the crash, but as it happened, the incident only meant the end of the race for Leclerc, not a season, career or life. The image tweeted by the official F1 account speaks volumes: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Later, F1 tweeted this pretty wild 360-degree video from Leclerc's car: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. And as "Top Gear" presenter Chris Harris tweeted: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Back when the season began, the Mercedes-Benz F1 team announced that the halo on the Mercedes car is strong enough to bear the weight of a double-decker London bus. As well as flying debris, detached wheels — and entire flying Formula 1 cars.   This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. 2018 Belgian Grand Prix: Race Highlights Related Video:

This McLaren 600LT is bespoke for Pebble Beach from roof scoop to road

It's track-ready but road-legal, comes with track driving instruction, and its price begins at $240,000, but if all that doesn't make the McLaren 600LT special enough for you, then perhaps you'll be interested in the "McLaren 600LT in Stealth Grey by MSO," to be revealed on the Pebble Beach Concept Lawn this Sunday, Aug. 26. MSO, of course, is McLaren Special Operations, the bespoke tailors of the McLaren brand. The MSO crew has crafted this 600LT with a lot more carbon fiber — especially a fully functional roof scoop on this Longtail that's inspired by the McLaren F1 Longtail. McLaren's press release says it "invigorates the driving experience with its active air induction sound." The scoop also has a track telemetry camera "to record inspirational moments." This 600LT also has super-lightweight carbon fiber racing seats taken from the McLaren Senna. The seats have McLaren Orange contrast stitching. There are also McLaren Defined carbon-fiber upgrades to door mirrors, exterior door inserts, the front splitter, rear bumper, diffuser, rear deck, service cover, roof and roof rails, and front fender louvers. Inside, there's carbon fiber on the center tunnel and door inserts. The car gets MSO Clubsport Pro Pack harness bar and six-point harnesses. The Stealth Grey Bespoke finish is accented with matt black and McLaren Orange to accent the aero bits. Inside, occupants can see the roof scoop and its carbon-fiber intake hoses have been integrated into the headliner. There's a 12-speaker Bowers & Wilkins sound system. And the car keys are hand-painted. The 600LT was just introduced a few weeks ago at the Goodwood Festival of Speed and is noted for its unusual top-exit exhaust, 592 horsepower and 457 pound-feet of torque from its 3.8-liter twin-turbo V8. Its 0-to-60 time is 2.8 seconds; its maximum speed is 204 mph. From there, how the 600LT gets further kitted out is up to the individual customer, with options from the MSO Defined and MSO Bespoke catalogs. Check the McLaren website for more info. As we mentioned, the base price of a 600LT starts at $240,000. A bespoke job by MSO like the one on display at Pebble Beach would cost $363,500. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Featured Gallery McLaren 600LT in Stealth Grey by MSO View 20 Photos Auto News McLaren Coupe Luxury Performance Pebble Beach mclaren special operations mso mclaren 600lt

Fernando Alonso to retire from F1 at end of season

Double world champion Fernando Alonso will retire from Formula One at the end of the season, his team McLaren said in a statement on Tuesday. The 37-year-old Spaniard is competing in his 17th Formula One season and his fifth with McLaren, and has been widely expected to race in the Indianapolis 500 next year as he attempts to win the Triple Crown of motorsport. Alonso, a double Monaco Grand Prix winner, won the Le Mans 24 Hours on his debut with Toyota in June this year and is ninth in the Formula One drivers' championship standings. "After 17 wonderful years in this amazing sport, it's time for me to make a change and move on," Alonso said. "There are still several grands prix to go this season, and I will take part in them with more commitment and passion than ever." McLaren worked with Andretti Autosport to field a car for Alonso for the 2017 Indy 500 where the Spaniard put himself in contention, leading for 27 laps before suffering an engine failure with 21 laps remaining. McLaren has been exploring the possibility of working again with Andretti to field an IndyCar team to run the entire series next year or might consider putting together their own team. Ryan Hunter-Reay, winner of the 2014 Indy 500 and a team mate of Alonso's with Andretti for the one race, said the Spaniard would be welcomed back and would be a great addition to the series. "It would be appealing to me if I were him," said Hunter-Reay during a conference call ahead of this weekend's IndyCar race at Pocono. "I spent time with him as his teammate and know he's as hungry as ever to win. "We worked very well together and would welcome him, no doubt, but I have no idea where this whole thing is going right now. "I don't know where McLaren stands with it ... a lot of speculation at the moment, but I think he would be a great addition to IndyCar and have a lot of fun here." Alonso thanked Formula One Chief Executive Chase Carey and the sport's owner, Liberty Media, for trying to get him to change his mind and leaving the door open on a possible return to the circuit. "I know (McLaren) will come back stronger and better in the future, and it could be the right moment for me to be back in the series; that would make me really happy," he added. "I made this decision some months ago, and it was a firm one.

2018 McLaren 570GT Sport Pack Drivers' Notes Review | Best of both worlds

The 2018 McLaren 570GT is the "entry-level" McLaren, representing the British automaker's Sport Series and slotting under the Super Series models like the 720S. The 570GT, like all McLarens, uses a twin-turbo V8 and a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. In the 570GT, the engine displaces 3.8 liters and makes 562 horsepower and 443 pound-feet of torque. The GT is the twin to the 570S, though for 2018 you can get the GT with the Sport Pack, giving the GT the best of both cars. The $5,950 Sport Pack changes the car's dampers and steering rack, pulling them closer in line with the 570S. The adaptive damping and stability control are tuned the same as on the S model. Our car also comes with carbon-ceramic brakes, Pirelli P-Zero Corsa tires, 10-spoke wheels ($6,200), carbon-fiber trim ($3,090) and a 12-speaker Bowers & Wilkins audio system ($2,280). All in, the car came out to $236,220. Editor-in-chief Greg Migliore: The McLaren 570GT is a brilliant car. It's powerful, has standout design and is one of the reasons McLaren is carving a niche against other European exotics. When the company relaunched its automotive business a decade ago, there were legitimate questions as to why an enthusiast would buy one. Driving this machine on a gorgeous Friday morning with the windows vented, I couldn't help but think that uncertainty has been largely put to rest. Zero to 60 in 3.3 seconds? That feels slow. I pulled up to a stoplight, goosed the throttle and effortlessly hit 60 as I blitzed by dawdling traffic. The brakes are instantaneous and direct. The steering is connected and quick. Tuned for the track, it was more than confidence-inspiring when I had to pull a hard left as another stoplight turned yellow. Oh, and you're so low to the ground. That really hit home when I found myself looking up at a GTI. That's low. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Associate Editor Reese Counts: I like but don't love the 570GT. Yes, it's astoundingly quick. The 3.8-liter twin-turbo V8 packs plenty of power. It handles well, with communicative steering and a firm suspension that doesn't punish you over rough pavement. It's relatively practical, too. The interior has a number of small bins, and the luggage shelf above the engine provides an extra bit of storage. Still, it's not enough to win me over. There are a number of little things that bug me.