McLaren's colors

[drewwtms]

I belive that there are pictures of XP1 (Peloton?) in the Driving Ambition book of a carbon-only finish. This was when the car went out for its first track testing. Obviously, it's not the same today but the car does look raw and edgy and very purposeful.

[Peloton25]

Originally posted by drewwtms
I belive that there are pictures of XP1 (Peloton?) in the Driving Ambition book of a carbon-only finish. This was when the car went out for its first track testing. Obviously, it's not the same today but the car does look raw and edgy and very purposeful.

Actually, all the photos taken of XP1 would have shown the bare carbon fiber as that particular car never made it to the paint booth. I have some photos of XP1 on a race track sourced from Road&Track, but it's difficult to tell that it's bare carbon. I do have this other photo that was scanned from "Driving Ambition" that shows XP1 during it's build process in December 1992. Unfortunately, who ever scanned it didn't get the full image, but it still looks sweet. You can tell it's XP1 by the caption next to the photo in the book, but also by the fact that the car has no front indicators below the headlights.

As most of you know, XP1 was subsequently destroyed during hot weather testing in the Nambian desert when BMW test driver, Roman Scherer drifted off line at ~150mph, clipped a gutter and lost control of the car. It apparently did a few cartwheels or somersaults before landing on the desert floor. Surprisingly, Roman was able to scramble out through the windscreen and the car would have survived the accident had oil not leaked onto the exhaust manifold and ignited a tiny fire which ultimately became an inferno. Losing XP1 was a setback to the McLaren Cars development team, but not a catastrophic one. Ron Dennins had every fragment of the car gathered and placed in a box to be buried - marked with a suitable tombstone at the McLaren Museum.

>8^)
ER

[XOTech]

Although XP1 was indeed exposed carbon, it wasn't finished with a clear coat to give it that illustrious shine. It was raw carbon (and epoxy resin)as has been pointed out. The image that Peloton just posted is again raw carbon, but the high quality manufacturing and mold use (with the right lighting) do make it look as though it were cleared. Other than the inherent epoxy resin that impregnates the carbon fibers, there is not clear on the car.

Should the day come, I believe I would be hard pressed to conclude either burgundy (as the Clinic Model was once painted) or the clear coated carbon. The clear is Very Exotic. Quite a statement.

[Peloton25]

Here is a new photo of the white McLaren. Maybe some of you have seen this shot before. Personally, I think that the white is very boring and detracts heavily from the styling of the car. It's just odd...

This picture was apparently scanned from the Taylor and Crawley ad in classic and sports car (aug. 2002). They regularly have McLaren F1's listed for sale on their website along with other very rare and exotic cars. In fact, there is a yellow one on their main page and they list a silver one and F1 GTR #24R as being available as well.

http://www.taylorandcrawley.com/

jkbon - is there any chance you could post the white photo that you have. I looked for the Newman Wallpaper website that is credited at the bottom, but it has since turned into a pornography link site with 1 million pop-up ads.

Thanks!

>8^)
ER

[jkbon]

No problem, I will add this picture this week-end.

I will create some "contact sheets" with all the Mclaren pictures (~1000) I have, so we can make exchange

[faisalkhan]

Hey don't leave us out of it...please post a link to the contact sheets here as well. We would all love to see them!
Rgds,
Faisal.

[mini magic]

Originally posted by XOTech
Although XP1 was indeed exposed carbon, it wasn't finished with a clear coat to give it that illustrious shine. It was raw carbon (and epoxy resin)as has been pointed out. The image that Peloton just posted is again raw carbon, but the high quality manufacturing and mold use (with the right lighting) do make it look as though it were cleared. Other than the inherent epoxy resin that impregnates the carbon fibers, there is not clear on the car.

Should the day come, I believe I would be hard pressed to conclude either burgundy (as the Clinic Model was once painted) or the clear coated carbon. The clear is Very Exotic. Quite a statement.

hehe, my pic.....