Whart comes as no surprise to some, McLaren is offering F1 owners significant upgrades:

http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/attachments/gtboard-com-general-sportscars/85199d1246908386-bugatti-veyron-vs-mclaren-f1-top-gear-mclaren-f1-2010-upgrade-package.pdf

63kg :yikes:

Wow. That's about all I have to say. Everything I thought that should have been improved with the F1 has been done. And now, finally, maybe all the Bugatti fans will shut up about the Veyron having a higher top speed. Also, 1G of cornering grip? Fantastic. The legend has become even greater.

But there is a possibility this could be a hoax?

But there is a possibility this could be a hoax
That's what I'm concerned about.....
But :runaround: if it's true!!!

"...an increased output of 691bhp........"
making the LM engine a bit on the redundant side....?

"...an increased output of 691bhp........"
making the LM engine a bit on the redundant side....?

Considering that's the same output as the LM engine, it probably is the LM engine.

Considering that's the same output as the LM engine, it probably is the LM engine.

Yea, I saw that it was the same as the LM engine, which did seem weird. So I guess that's a possibility (that it is the LM engine)? That would be a wee bitty sad for the owners of LMs 1 thru 4, #073 and #018.
So do you reckon they'll do something nice for the LMs or GTs? And do you think potentially some of the Sultan's F1s might surface around the shipping yards? Some snaps of LM1 or 4 or the fabled 54f1gt?
That would be nice :iceslolan

Thanks

Awesome ! Incredible... if it's true :)
The only drawback are "6191cm3 why ?" and 10"1 on 1/4 mile seems strange.

Phil

Color me a skeptic here - but I can not find that press release on McLaren's website or any other credible automotive news site where it certainly should be if it were real news. The only references I found on Google seem to be the M5board link, and another thread that links back to it. :uhoh:

The real glaring error in the document seems to be the spelling of the name "Frank Stephensen" in the PDF. It appears with that spelling 7 different times and is incorrect. I've grabbed a screenshot of the current version of the PDF so that the creator can't simply make a quick change to it now that I have pointed out the mistake - one that McLaren themselves surely would not make if this were a real press release.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Peloton25/bogus.jpg

I'm going to take Car Design News' offering of the spelling of his name (http://www.cardesignnews.com/site/designers/whos_where/display/store4/item129082/) as "Frank Stephenson" as being a little more accurate than the few references found on Google of the alternate spelling with an 'e' at the end.

Also his LinkedIn profile: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/frank-stephenson/6/854/729

Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Stephenson

Trust me, I wanted it to be real too. :disappoin

>8^)
ER

The item first appeared on M5board.com in discussion topic titled "Bugatti Veyron vs. McLaren F1 on Top Gear" found in a post by the user Frank.D that read:

Seems the attached press release would like to have us believe that McLaren haven't thrown in the towel just yet. I found this on another forum, seems either leaked or a hoax, with the latter being more likely. I mean doesn't seem logical for them to update the car after so many years.

The PDF was included as an attachment. He makes no direct reference to the actual source beyond that. He also joined the forum just one day prior to making that post.

If it wasn't 1:00 in the morning, I might be able to notice additional discrepacies with the content. I did find one spot towards the bottom where 'the' is written "thé" with the accent mark over the 'é'. That's another mistake that would not have passed the scrutiny of McLaren's press department, I don't think.

The last point I'll make about the document itself is that the image used as a backdrop for the pages is readily available from the McLarenAutomotive.com website. The other image is the current McLaren logo which is also easily acquired. This would not have been difficult to put together at all.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Peloton25/McLaren%20F1%20H/th_f1-roadcar.jpg (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Peloton25/McLaren%20F1%20H/f1-roadcar.jpg)

Given the time and effort required to create an entirely new supercar worthy of the McLaren name, I simply can't imagine they've devoted any resources to sprucing up the old one. That just doesn't pass the smell test.

If, by chance, anyone has shared this info on other forums already, I'd really appreciate it if you'd update those threads with the discrepancies I pointed out. I'd be happy to have my theories proven wrong here, but I seriously doubt that is going to occur.

>8^)
ER

It did seem too good to be true certainly.
And if it were, I seem to remember reading somewhere that the LM engine had ceased production (and therefore LMs, 018, and 073 would be the only ones with it - no new ones made). So, @wilsonc it couldn't be the LM engine anyway.
@peloton25 - the background and the whole feel of the release didn't/doesn't feel right to me either. Sad tho. Some aspects of it would have been good I reckon (although not others) And thanks for looking into it.
Peace

Definitely a hoax. To many typos to have come from Mclaren... 20st of June, hmmmmm. :confused:

Very elaborate, and interesting but a white elephant none the less.

It's too suss for me, though like most I wish it were true.

how about that the letter is dated eleven days from today (20 July) and is spelled 20st - seems sloppy? and if it's not on their website, i would want to see official confirmation before believing any of it.


Color me a skeptic here - but I can not find that press

release on McLaren's website or any other credible automotive news site where it certainly should be if it were real news. The only references I found on Google seem to be the M5board link, and another thread that links back to it. :uhoh:

The real glaring error in the document seems to be the spelling of the name "Frank Stephensen" in the PDF. It appears with that spelling 7 different times and is incorrect. I've grabbed a screenshot of the current version of the PDF so that the creator can't simply make a quick change to it now that I have pointed out the mistake - one that McLaren themselves surely would not make if this were a real press release.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Peloton25/bogus.jpg

I'm going to take Car Design News' offering of the spelling of his name (http://www.cardesignnews.com/site/designers/whos_where/display/store4/item129082/) as "Frank Stephenson" as being a little more accurate than the few references found on Google of the alternate spelling with an 'e' at the end.

Also his LinkedIn profile: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/frank-stephenson/6/854/729

Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Stephenson

Trust me, I wanted it to be real too. :disappoin

>8^)
ER

keep in mind the major difference between a standard engine and the LM-spec is the map! the engine's mechanical specs are identical with only a few cosmetic differences (orange cam covers, etc.). in short, there was never a separate LM engine, only re-mapping.



It did seem too good to be true certainly.
And if it were, I seem to remember reading somewhere that the LM engine had ceased production (and therefore LMs, 018, and 073 would be the only ones with it - no new ones made). So, @wilsonc it couldn't be the LM engine anyway.
@peloton25 - the background and the whole feel of the release didn't/doesn't feel right to me either. Sad tho. Some aspects of it would have been good I reckon (although not others) And thanks for looking into it.
Peace

Definitely a hoax. To many typos to have come from Mclaren... 20st of June, hmmmmm. :confused:

Thanks - I completely missed that one. I guess I could have stopped reading right there. :lol2:

>8^)
ER

Definitely a hoax. Too many typo's to have come from Mclaren... 20st of June, hmmmmm. :confused:

Very elaborate and interesting but a white elephant none the less.


efa ;) :lol:

Lies, lies, all lies,

Hold on, it could be real if it come from McLaren :evillol:

Joking apart, the person who wrote that needs to a) go back to school and learn how to spell and b) go to college and learn about automotive engineering, as the stats do not add up !!

So the McLaren fights back for the new commers on the ultimate supercar markets! Great news! :naughty:

So the McLaren fights back for the new commers on the ultimate supercar markets! Great news! :naughty:

Sami: It's not true. It's a hoax. McLaren are not really doing this (we don't believe). It appears to be a complete fake. Sadly. :headshake

Sami: It's not true. It's a hoax. McLaren are not really doing this (we don't believe). It appears to be a complete fake. Sadly. :headshake

OK. Oh no.
Now I read more closely these stories this Thread, sorry about misunderstanding. :uhoh:

although this release may be a fake (hoping deep down it isn't) but if you think about it...this is the perfect time to make such an announcment. It will show future Mclaren P11, P12, P13 buyers realize that just because there car is not longer being built, Mclaren will still strive to make it all that it can be. It kinda makes sense in that respect do to somthing along these lines! What do you guys think?

"RL: Of course we have asked our client base before deciding on this upgrade package and we feel confident the vast majority of them will opt for the upgrade."

So if it actually is true then fselldorff, or any other McLaren owner, would know about it. If you're reading this fselldorff, is it real?

Not sure how quickly we can expect a response to your question from Mr Selldorff, but several of the non-owner participants of this forum have various contacts in the McLaren world, from owners to factory workers, who would have likely provided us with some advance notice on something like this if it were real.

I have yet to ask anyone who I know would be "in the know" on this one. I happen to think we've poked enough holes in the story already where doing so would be a waste of time. Perhaps Greg or Chris have a different take on it.

>8^)
ER

someone spend a lot of time doing that document WHY

someone spend a lot of time doing that document WHY

someone must have been pretty bored and had quite a bit of time on their hands :screwy:

Something McLaren definitely would not mistake is the bhp/ton figure. If the car had 691bhp, and weighed 1077kg, then it would be about 641.6bhp/ton.

someone spend a lot of time doing that document WHY

My vote goes to personal entertainment. Put something like this out there, then sit back to watch it get picked up by the major daily auto news outlets like Autoblog or Jalopnik, and then spread like wild fire across the span of automotive message forums around the web.

FerrariChat has a thread on this topic (http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=249647) already. Surely there are more out there now I haven't seen.

In fact, if the creator had spent just a little more time on it and caught some of their own errors prior to publishing it, then this little document would have surely sparked quite a bit of debate and friendly banter before it was proven to be false. All the while its creator would be sitting back and smiling, I would imagine.

>8^)
ER

I have heard nothing about this.

I have heard nothing about this.

Thankyou for taking the time to comment on this matter! :wink:

Another thread on this:

http://www.theautounion.net/index.php?PHPSESSID=fdcb1c76ac906478212e079370df3a 2f&topic=5256.msg64700#msg64700

Luckily it seems that most of the people there were able to see right through it.

>8^)
ER

Good eyes gentlemen.

Thanks for the response Mr. Selldorff.

Another thread on this:
http://www.theautounion.net/index.php?PHPSESSID=fdcb1c76ac906478212e079370df3a 2f&topic=5256.msg64700#msg64700

>8^)
ER

Maybe it should be posted over on theautoONION.net (if there is such a thing).

They become a little lax with their updates lately, but this is what you are looking for. It's typically very entertaining.

http://www.sniffpetrol.com

>8^)
ER

My F1 owner friend sent me an email last week, when I was in sunny St. Ives with the family -

"I was going to list for you its various errors and incongruities, but there are so many of them that I cannot justify the effort. The author has made several technical assumptions that are wrong. He or she also fails to understand how McLaren Automotive work, either internally or in relation to their clients. Everything in the "announcement" that is factually true could have been pieced together from a careful study of public information. Much of what could only be learned from direct experience is incorrect."