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I don't think they've ever released a V8 officially... even something like the tiny Radical V8 which is really 2 bike engines glued together with gaffa tape.
McLaren P15......Good God....it's just......wow, no words!
- Thread starter Housey
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I don't think they've ever released a V8 officially... even something like the tiny Radical V8 which is really 2 bike engines glued together with gaffa tape.
http://www.evo.co.uk/caterham/7/9453/caterham-levante-caterham-levante
yea it was for sale but very limited, very hard to drive too !
there was one for sale about a year ago.
yea it was for sale but very limited, very hard to drive too !
there was one for sale about a year ago.
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I would absolutely love an SP300R though... even if it is only a 4-pot... but if limited to one, I think SR8 has to come first, Palmer JP1 second and SP300R third... before you get into the realms of proper LMP cars for 2-3x the cost.
that Levate would be a real handful !!!!! the Caterham is summer fun only though, because it would be horrible to drive today.............freezing cold
https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/caterham/sp300r
that would be brilliant.....very low C OF G....but track only
https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/caterham/sp300r
that would be brilliant.....very low C OF G....but track only
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The Levante would be awesome 
so would a 1933 hot rod from ``Factory Five`` .............better street mannersThe Levante would be awesome
https://classics.autotrader.com/classic-cars/1933/factory_five/hot_rod/100762034
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Meh
Opentrack
Thing is....
It's going to be slower than a proper race car (LMP2/LMP3) and more expensive.
It's going to be no quicker, frankly in many situations slower than a well sorted sports car A to B.
It's going to be driven in the main around Mayfair, Dubai, Moscow, upstate NY and probably not go close to a race circuit.
It's going to be revved lots, view lots of people drinking coffee and be clocked, the sold to round 2 speculators.
It's going to intimidate 90% of it's owners who will never get close to anything it's been built to do.
It's going to cost 20K to service when all they do is pump the tyres up....with panda farts no doubt.
I better than most here get the type of people who buy these cars as I know several. I am aware of a few who are getting one of these, but to me these are nothing more than vanity objects for the hyper car illuminati, one or two exceptions aside. I turn up at most car meets in an R8 V10 and people want to bum me and be my friend and that is cool, I am super sexy and dead friendly. I also get a kick from the young lad at a service station with his dad fawning over it and shouting "look dad, a Polo GTI" and I am happy to put time aside to let kids sit in the car, have some pictures taken, rev the engine because I was that lad in the 1970's. It's the next generation petrolhead, it is car owning law that we do these things when having something nice that petrol heads like, whatever their age.
However I turn up at one of those 'special' car events and I am not one of them. I get smiled at and then the owners all **** off into their gated area for special coffee and self bumming and usually any kids that come close, unless they have 10m followers on YouFace are shunned, not always, but often. THIS is the reality of why people buy these cars and for me that is sad, but also modern life. They are the modern emperors new clothes. All power to the boys and girls who can play the game, I just find them a little bit cynical and the people who buy them don't care and if it gives them a kick then fair play, their money, their spends.
Just a bit of shame that McLaren and others have started to turn into Apple with launch after launch of basically the same thing, over and over again and the headless chickens all dive in for a group hank.
Getting old me
Get all of that and agree entirely.
But personally, I think they have actually gone down exactly the same path they were trying to get away from. By making the Senna road legal, they have had to compromise, and that has made the car not one thing or the other but a mish mash.
Perhaps if McLaren had built the P15 Senna and done something similar to Ferrari with its FXX and made it track only and set up a one make series etc then it would have been a better car, a more purposeful car and people woudl understand it better. ?
@Housey while not on the same level car wise, my sister's father in law bought his wife a Cayman S.
In 5,000 miles since she had it, he claims it's "Never been ragged, never above 5k revs." as if it's an achievement.
I just want to slap him, replacing a Polo with a Cayman S and then driving it like a Polo just so he can say he bought the wife a Porsche.
In 5,000 miles since she had it, he claims it's "Never been ragged, never above 5k revs." as if it's an achievement.
I just want to slap him, replacing a Polo with a Cayman S and then driving it like a Polo just so he can say he bought the wife a Porsche.
Soldato
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this is the problem with valuable cars, or at least cars of any value that are percieved as high value to their owners such that looking after it comes above just using it.
for example a mate of mine's dad had a lovely 3 series, one of those models where the original owner had ticked the "select all" box at the top of the options list then got it and did nothing with it. it sat in the garage, came out once a week for washing and polishing, then back in the garage.
what's the point? its a car, its meant to be used, if you own a car you don't use you might as well not own a car and save a few hundred on the tax/insurance bill.
now this thing's just the extreme example of this, a car for people so rich money doesn't matter to them so they have to make up the perceived value by doing a limited run and making it exclusive, but it's the same thing.
Yep, it's like the time I managed to overtake an R8 on a track day in my MX5, admittedly 220bhp but still.
Why spend all that money on a fast car and then drive like you're scared to even scrub the tyres. Do what I did and spend less than £10k on getting a cheap car and driving at the very limit, and beyond, of mine and the car's talent.
Why spend all that money on a fast car and then drive like you're scared to even scrub the tyres. Do what I did and spend less than £10k on getting a cheap car and driving at the very limit, and beyond, of mine and the car's talent.
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Soldato
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especially on a track, i guess there's some excuses to be made for on the road or when you're fresh to a new motor on the track and you don't know the limits. i guess at least though he gets points for the car having made it out of the garage
Soldato
Money doesn't mean racing talent, anyone who has seen a Blancpain GT Sports Club race can attest to that. If I had the money I would rather keep my Ford Focus as a daily and do a few race weekends a year in a Formula Ford then buy a car to show off. And that's what these cars are to most people sadly, not about the driving experience but a expensive toy they can show off.
Soldato
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same for any skill discipline really, expensive kit just enhances skill it doesn't create it.
Associate
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According to the McLaren Owners Club forum the 500 limited edition cars have all been sold well before the car was officially announced.
Pretty much, but I know of people who are not taking them now. MacLife is a strange place, they are very patriotic about their Ron's
Exactly which is what McLaren said was the problem with the P1, it was not one thing or the other so compromised on both.
Hence they wanted to replace it with two cars.
The theory was the P15 would be an out and out track monster, no quarter given, no compromise on anything, to make it the fastest track McLaren ever.
Then the BP23 would be the road going car that had all the comfort and manners befitting a real hyper luxury grand tourer.
But then the P15 has been made road legal, so again compromised.
McLaren should have followed the FXX model.
The car designed and built to be a track monster with no compromise, the car stays at the factory,a factory crew take it to various impressive race tracks around the world, the owner/drivers meet up there and rag the whatsits off the car in a one make series of races.