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Here's the chassis for McLaren's 650S replacement, full car coming soon

McLaren announced today that the replacement for its 650S supercar will make its debut on March 7 at the Geneva auto show. It also unveiled the underpinnings of the new car, which it calls the Monocage II. The chassis is clearly something the company is proud of – it will offer an option called "Visible Monocage" that will leave the interior side of the A-pillars exposed. McLaren does have reason to be proud of the new chassis, as it brings a number of improvements. The company says the door openings are wider, and the sills have been lowered, which should make it much easier to climb into the new car. The company also claims a lower center of gravity, and a lighter dry weight than a comparable 650S. Specifically, the new car will have a dry weight of 2829 pounds, which McLaren says is 40 pounds less than that comparable 650S. That's a pretty sizable reduction. This new Super Series McLaren is also the first of what will be 15 new models the company will release by 2022. Since the Monocage chassis is shared among today's McLarens, expect Monocage II to be used in most if not all of those new vehicles. McLaren hasn't provided many details on what the other 14 models will be, but expect a number of convertible and ultra high-performance variants, many of which will replace current offerings in the Sports, Super, and Ultimate Series. Hybrids will be a big part of the product rollout, too. McLaren has said that its next hybrid will appear sometime closer to 2022, with half of the lineup using hybrid tech by that date. (Currently, only the range-topping P1 features a gas-electric powertrain.) In the meantime, though, we'll be looking forward to seeing the complete 650S replacement this March. Related Video:

Watch a young Elon Musk take delivery of his McLaren F1

Years before Elon Musk was launching rockets into space or trying to revolutionize the auto business with Tesla, he was just another Silicon Valley geek, albeit already a very successful one. This vintage video catches Musk in 1999 celebrating some of that triumph, as he takes delivery of none other than a McLaren F1. As the million-dollar supercar is lowered from the transporter Musk intones, "It is the moment of my life." We also get a snapshot of an interesting time in Musk's life. According to the clip, he had already sold the company Zip2 for $400 million in cash and had started at the online banking business X. After a merger, it eventually became PayPal, and the entrepreneur later walked away from the website with another massive check. Watch this brief moment of happiness as Musk takes delivery of the McLaren, because by the end of the video, his focus already seemed to have turned to his next business venture. News Source: EveryElonMusk Video via YouTube, Car and Driver Auto News Green McLaren Tesla Car Buying Green Culture Coupe Performance Supercars Videos paypal

McLaren F1 poaches Jost Capito from VW WRC

The executive shuffle continues at the McLaren Formula 1 team with news that Ron Dennis has lured Jost Capito away from his position as head of Volkswagen Motorsport. Capito will become the CEO of McLaren Racing, replacing Jonathan Neale who took the position on an interim basis at the beginning of 2014 to replace Martin Whitmarsh. Whitmarsh, who had been with McLaren for 24 years and spent five of them as F1 team principal, left the company after being moved out of the CEO position. Neale, on the other hand, who has been with McLaren Racing since 2001, is moving over to the newly created position of COO of the McLaren Technology Group. Capito left the Ford SVT division in 2012 to run VW Motorsport, and has spent the past three years shepherding the brand's World Rally Championship to three consecutive driver's and manufacturer's titles. Before that, his lengthy racing resume includes developing high-performance BMW engines, winning the Dakar Rally as a co-pilot, executive positions with Sauber in the early nineties, and managing Ford's WRC team. Dennis, who first approached Capito last summer, called him, "extremely impressive, competitive, and ambitious." The Woking team has some great parts, but it hasn't been able to make the most of them comprehensively since the end 2012 season. Autosport says that Capito has the ability to make the best pieces work together, which will probably be his biggest challenge at McLaren. Capito will remain at VW until a successor is found. News Source: The GuardianImage Credit: AP Photo/Lionel Cironneau Motorsports McLaren Volkswagen Racing Vehicles F1 jost capito