Gadgetory

bruce mclaren died trying to go faster faster than he'd ever been before faster than the other team he had that races mindset that he wasn't happy unless he was in the lead it's a mindset that carried on with his company McLaren and it's why the 650s exists the 12c or to use its original name the McLaren mp4-12c was McLaren's first go at a sensible road car the f1 of course was its first proper go for the road but it was a little mad anyway the 12c was lauded as being a brilliant car even by me but many said it felt a little solace a touch flawed and a bit wanting McLaren was on its way to making something golden but it needed a bit more and that's what it reckons the 650s is here's the vital statistics the 650s is 3.8 litre twin-turbo v8 pushes out 641 brake horsepower or 650 PS if you live in Europe it also manages 500-pound foot of torque that's a bit of a way off of the 12c that managed 616 brake horsepower at 413 pounds fern speaking of the 12c he wasn't a slow car not 262 took 3.1 seconds in its top speed was 207 miles an hour in comparison the 650s will hit 62 in three seconds dead and its top speed is also 207 miles an hour but this isn't really all about top speed because the boys from working have been far more than you'll ever know yes there's the look of it which borrows from the p1 hypercar fair bit but it also uses dumper similar to those found on said p1 so there's that the suspension has been fiddled with us as the steering to make the 650s a little sharper a little harder and more soulful than the car that came before McLaren's taken a Silicon Valley approach with the 650s there were things about the 12c that needed fixing or upgrading or just found a little bit wanting that could be adjusted to make a better car but they couldn't be fixed with me a software no they needed proper hardware engineering and so that's exactly what McLaren's done it's how the car world works but I feel with McLaren there's a bit more to it there's the impression that the next big thing the next fix is waiting in the wings there won't be such a thing as the perfect car and I like that the brazen ability to look back and go know it can be better and that's something old Bruce left by now at MacLaren's UK HQ there's this thing called the boulevard and along it are important race-winning McLaren's from years gone by and at the top of it there's a little red Austin seven that car was bought for Bruce by his motorcycle sham dad so his son could go hill climbing unsurprisingly Bruce was very very talented and so to get a competitive edge up the hill he started fiddling with his Austin Seven doing things like flipping the suspension for an extra couple of tenths of a second as he got better his motorsport career well took off it's well documented he was an exacting man he had very high standards one day he was out testing one of his new cars he was quite works to see that the fuel filler cap hadn't been replaced by his pink room as fluffing about in the wind now initially he was quite annoyed by this but then it's a man Manson figured well if I Drive really quickly the wind will go over the car and push it now so he went quicker but the wind didn't push the cap down all it did was making waggle more it was just flapping all over the place and this is when Bruce learn all about aerodynamics he figured there was another airflow underneath the flap and that was what was causing all there you know flat penis when he got back to the pits he lept out of the car took some shears to it and made his own aerodynamic adjustments and instantly started putting in better lap times I like to think there was a similar Eureka moment when the 650s became a thing someone went but if we do this and lo McLaren decided it was better now to put the car in context the 12c was an incredible bit of kit it wasn't showing or flashy though it didn't scream money as say a Ferrari does it was the start of a long journey for McLaren the p1 was a massive leap so the 650s should be leagues above the 12c was a stunning car it was brilliant I adored it it was everything I'd hoped it would be yes people didn't think it was as good as a Ferrari or have you and maybe it was lacking in a few areas and I've heard that the 650s is what it could have been if it was left simmering for a little longer that's what's been said about it and I'm inclined to agree because what McLaren's done is it it's giving it more feeling it is a once more with feeling kind of car the steering's been adjusted that the dampers are those fairly similar inspired by the p1 project the front end yes it does 8 the look of the p1 yes that's now a family face but McLaren being McLaren it's not there just to be pretty its function all the carbon fiber bits and all the the grooves and what have you that's there to add downforce the car this now has way more front end grip than the 12c did not that the 12c needed more grip because it handled unbelievably well but this now means well it'll go around corners quicker than you or I could possibly imagine you may have noticed down the side of the car there's two carbon fiber sills those aren't there just to put a 650s budge on know those help guide air down the side of the car to make it extra slippery the spoilers been fiddled with as well now it's already awesome because well its a spoiler that goes up and down you can use it as an air brake so when you're really tonking it and then slam on the anchors it will raise up completely it'll go pretty much a vertical from where I've been sitting only downside to that is when that does happen it completely covers the rear window so you can't actually see out the back so if someone is quite close to you and you break quite hard by the time the spoiler goes down they might be a bit closer than you'd imagined it's a thinking car this it thinks for you it works for you to flatter you to make sure that you can get the best out of it at any given moment to win that with McLaren's amazing ride one of the best things about the 12c was it eerily serene ride and you could easily I reckon just bimble around in one of these days two days shouldn't be too much of an issue apparently it's been tuned to be a little bit closer to track because in the 12c it didn't offer quite as much supercar silliness that some owners would have liked I want to talk about the way this car delivers his power press the active button press menu or and then the car goes into your control so I don't have control the gears the gearbox is super sharp super quick put it in third find a straight bit Jesus Christ good lord this thing is fast mclaren doesn't do feeling it doesn't do big shiny flashy emotion it doesn't do he doesn't do in the Italian Way the Ferrari thing it's all me everything is very beautiful that it feels very lovely it's all done because our way Ferrari we have all this great emotion and great passion and all that and i'm not saying mclaren doesn't have passion doesn't have a motion far from it but it derives its passionate emotion not from artistic flair and artisanal wonderfulness it derives it from being the best engineered car out from going quicker than the other guy this is a function car it's not a form over function the function dictates the fall and it happens to be that the form is bloody crazy there is nothing on this car that doesn't need to be here and the interior reflects that this car would appeal to a very certain type of person and I would bet any money that probably engineers engineers and absolutely love these things one is always going to be incrementally faster than the other one is always going to have fans that the other does have is always going to be staunch supporters what I'm pleased that there's that little race going on the Ferrari is pushing McLaren that McLaren is pushing Ferrari that each one ups the game just a little further each time so they can say our but we're faster than the other guy because what that means that the end product will please everybody I'm not sure what anyone's expecting other than brilliance from a company like McLaren but still the 650s isn't the only way you can get your mclaren road car kicks if you're one of the lucky few who has the keys to a p1 then good for you or there's the 675 long tail which has 666 brake horsepower and a slightly longer spoiler than the 650s or the 911 fighting sports series might be the one for you and all of them without doubt a brilliant to McLaren just like Bruce simply wants to be faster be better than the other guy unlike Bruce though it's unlikely to die trying Bruce McLaren himself had this to say on that very topic to do something well is so worthwhile that to die trying to do it better cannot be foolhardy it would be a waste of life to do nothing with one's ability for I feel that life is measured in achievement not in years alone and you can hardly say that bruce mclaren or mclaren itself has hardly achieved anything can you