Autoblog

With the mostly unloved Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren set to get the official axe in 2009, the path is clear for the next McLaren-branded supercar to be unveiled. Expected to be built at its facility in Woking, England, McLaren has plans for the as-yet-unnamed vehicle to compete with Ferrari's incredible F430. Rumored to be powered by a 550-horsepower V8 engine featuring a basic design snagged from Mercedes and built by Mahle (that of the former Cosworth tuning fame), the power-to-weight ratio should handily outdo that of the Prancing Horse. Shortly after the new coupe codenamed P11 is unveiled, a convertible version is also expected.

True hardcore McLaren enthusiasts should mark 2012 as the year that McLaren returns to form with a proper replacement for its awe-inspiring F1 of a few years back. Powered by a lightweight version of the P11 architecture, this car codenamed the P12 is expected to be powered by a V10 engine with over 600 horsepower. The waiting list will likely start right... about... now.

[Source: Autocar]

click above to view more high-res pics of the Mercedes SLR McLaren Roadster

No comment. That's what the Mercedes-Benz communications office had to say in response to rumors that the company is preparing to take over McLaren, the racing team and engineering firm of which Daimler already owns 40%. The report comes from Auto Motor und Sport and suggests not only that Mercedes is considering a buy-out of McLaren, but that the deal has essentially already been hammered out.

The remaining 60% is shared by team principal Ron Dennis and his Saudi business partner Mansour Ojjeh (at 15% each) and Bahraini holding company Mumtalakat, to which Dennis and Ojjeh sold 30% last year. Daimler therefore has the largest interest in McLaren, but if it wanted to take complete control it would have to negotiate with the three other shareholders, or else take controlling interest of 55 or 70% by buying out either Dennis, Ojjeh or the Bahraini partners.

McLaren currently produces the SLR supercar for Mercedes. Although Mercedes is reportedly turning to AMG spin-off HWA for its next supercar, McLaren is meanwhile proceeding with its own P11. Of course, McLaren also fields Mercedes-powered Formula One cars. If Daimler did buy out McLaren, as has long been rumored, it would effectively become the Mercedes factory works team, much like Honda bought BAR and BMW took over Sauber.

[Source: Auto Motor und Sport via Autosport]

Lewis Hamilton is having a great 23rd birthday. Not only has he resigned with McLaren for a reported $138 million, but Mercedes-Benz presented him with a brand new car to drive next season, the MP4-23. McLaren's new F1 car was literally finished last night and then trucked over a 1,000 kilometers to the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart, Germany. There it was unveiled by none other than Daimler chief Dieter Zetsche (we last saw him getting the hell out of Dodge). Along with other execs and media, Mercedes invited 700 workers from its Stuttgart plant to attend the festivities, as well. The car should be back on a trailer and headed to the Circuito de Jerez in Southern Spain as we speak, where Hamilton and his new teammate, Heikki Kovalainen, will give it a proper shakedown. As work began on this car began all the way back in November of 2006, it's no surprise that development of its replacement is already underway.

[Source: Mercedes-Benz]

Reports are coming in that Lewis Hamilton, the phenom F1 driver that nearly won the drivers' championship last season, has resigned with team McLaren for a reported $138 million USD over the next five years. The deal keeps the now 23-year-old at McLaren through 2012, though he's said he would stay put for his entire career if they wanted him to (and paid him to). On average, Hamilton will earn $27 million per year through 2012, which is a big raise compared to the $700,000 base pay plus bonuses he earned last year, his rookie season. Looks like all that money used to pay F1 star Fernando Alonso last season will be going to Hamilton now, despite the fact he couldn't beat the Stig around the Top Gear test track.

[Source: Motor Authority]

While McLaren's next car is not expected to use any Ferrari technology, it will take after Ferrari in one way: the scarlet marque is launching is F1 challenger on January 6, 2008, and McLaren will do so the day after, on January 7. The move is a bit of a surprise, since McLaren said that it wouldn't be hosting a public launch of the car at all, hoping to diminish the scrutiny from nearly an entire season mired in scandal.

The now-very-public launch of the MP4-23 will take place at the Mercedes Museum in Stuttgart, and will be attended by head honchos all the way up to Daimler Chairman Dieter Zetsche. The event will be lacking, of course, a certain former World Champion and the Spanish sponsors he took with him back to Renault. In Alonso's stead will be Heikki Kovalainen, a lot of hope, and, if we know Ron Dennis, a commitment to regaining the number one status -- this time the right way.

[Source: World Car Fans]

Autoblog Podcast #83 was judiciously held back until after the embargo cleared, but we can now talk freely. The biggest news this week is the official unveiling of the Corvette ZR-1/Blue Devil. Powered by the new LS9 supercharged small-block, the car's performance is sure to be astounding. After laying eyes on the un-camoflaged car, hood porthole and all, we have to ask: is it overwrought? From ridiculous speed to ludicrous wordsmithing, we talk about the Nissan FORUM concept mainly for the chance to bash the hilariously composed press release. Maybe it was written in Japanese and they just passed it through translation software before releasing the announcement.

While we're being scornful, we turn our gaze to the new Knight Rider. We've been keepig an eye on all the news, and let's just say we expect the show to fail. The new Mustang-based KITT, even in Attack guise, is no Super Pursuit Mode original KITT. We wrap up with some discussion of Hyundai's move toward a turbocharged 2.0-liter direct-inject engine (GEMA?) and take that off into a discussion about the expanded selection of good, inexpensive, and powerful coupes. The finale is some speculation about the rendering of a new McLaren supercar, as well as analyzing the absurdly high price of the BMW 1-series. 43 minutes will do it, see you next week!

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Some will say for better, others will say for worse, but one way or another, the Mercedes SLR McLaren is the supercar that refuses to go quietly into the night. It was previewed by the Vision SLR concept way back in 1999, and since entering limited production in 2003, the Anglo-Saxon supercar has performed disappointingly both on the road and in the market. But rather than allowing it to slip away, Mercedes has repeatedly given it new transfusions with the Roadster, 722 and most recently the 722 GT derivatives. The SLR, in all its incarnations, is about due for retirement, so where has it gone? To Florida, of course!

RENNtech, the Sunshine State-based Mercedes tuner par excellence, has been given the exclusive contract to import and distribute the long-named and long-nosed Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren 722 GT in North America. RENNtech, which, as we reported earlier, tuned the SLR road car to actually produce 722 hp, will offer an allotment of 21 examples of the factory SLR 722 GT track-day special, each available at about $1.2 million.

To sweeten the deal, RENNtech is setting up a full track-day program for the SLR 722 GT owners, including set-up and maintenance by specialized technicians, opportunity to learn the track behind the wheel of its special SLR karts (pictured, right) and instruction from professional drivers (David Coulthard, although no longer affiliated with McLaren, is claimed to be on board).

To celebrate the arrival of the sharpest (and potentially last) version of the SLR to American shores, we've got a whole mess of new photos for you... just click on the gallery below. (Full press release after the jump.)

[Source: RENNtech]

McLaren is one of the most successful race teams in Formula One, but unlike rival Ferrari, it doesn't make many road cars. Its current supercar, the Mercedes SLR McLaren, was a relative disappointment, particularly when judged against the impossibly high yardstick of its predecessor, the McLaren F1, which remains one of the quickest, fastest and all-around best-performing supercars of all time. So when the Woking, England-based firm announced the development of the P11, potential customers began calling the factory, which has already taken dozens of orders long before the car has even been unveiled.

British magazine CAR claims to have the inside line on the supercar, having spoken with some of the engineers working on the project – McLaren is said to be in the process of hiring more –and have put together an educated guess on the car's spec sheet. While the F1 diced it with the likes of the Ferrari F40 and Porsche 959, and the SLR took on the Enzo and Carrera GT, the car tentatively code-named P11 is expected to go down-market (that being a relative term, of course) to target the likes of the 430 Scuderia and 911 GT2. Power is anticipated to come from sibling-company AMG's 6.3-liter V8, putting some 500 horsepower down through the rear wheels for a sub-4-second run to sixty and a top speed over 200 mph. Expect carbon-ceramic brakes to figure into an aluminum and carbon-fiber package sized in between Audi's TT and R8.

CAR claims its renderings are fairly close to the mark for the supercar that will launch in 2010 and be produced in annual runs of less than 5,000. Don't expect the car to be dipped in chrome like its grand prix stable-mates, though.

Thanks for the tip, Alex!

[Source: CAR Online]

With Fernando Alonso officially heading back to Renault, the next question to be answered was who was going to fill the vacancy left at McLaren. Back in October we speculated that anyone from McLaren test driver Pedro de la Rossa to Mika Hakkinen could take the position. On Friday it was announced that Heikki Kovalainen, who was left without a seat at Renault, will join Lewis Hamilton at McLaren for 2008. Kovalainen scored 30 or Renault's 51 points and finished seventh in the 2007 driver standings. The duo will be one of the youngest driver combos, and both will be starting just their second season in Formula 1. McLaren's press release as well as a Q&A with Kovalainen are after the jump.

[Source: McLaren]

During the Stepneygate scandal over the course of the 2007 Formula 1 season, more than one critic accused the FIA of being on a witch hunt against McLaren. Based on what McLaren said it knew, and what the FIA said it knew, it looked to many like the governing body was simply doing everything possible to put Ferrari in the Championship lead. When the $100,000,000 penalty was given to McLaren, some folks were aghast.

But this one goes firmly to the FIA. McLaren has unreservedly apologized in a letter to the FIA, the World Motorsports Council, and F1 fans for not being forthcoming, for possibly allowing Ferrari secrets to get into its car, and for allowing the FIA's investigation of the team to reveal more information than its own investigation. It also agreed to pay the FIA's expenses for conducting the investigation.

In addition to all of that, McLaren has agreed to "'impose a moratorium' on development of three separate systems that may have been infected by the Ferrari secrets." Those three potentially "infected" systems were on Hamilton and Alonso's 2007 racers, which makes it quite convenient that Hamilton didn't win the Championship. Because of McLaren's acknowledgment of guilt and acceptance of terms, Max Mosley, head of the FIA, has asked that the investigation be closed, and that a February 14th meeting to determine the validity of McLaren's 2008 car be canceled.

[Source: F1 Live]