2017 Mclaren 570 on 2040-cars

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Our interview with Jeremy Clarkson and James May, plus SEMA! | Autoblog Podcast #491

This week, David Gluckman and Mike Austin talk SEMA madness, mis-aligned steering wheels, wireless charging, McLarens (they're sports cars!), and decals. We also have an excerpt from a recent interview with James May and Jeremy Clarkson of The Grand Tour and Top Gear fame. As always, we talk about a variety of cars we've been driving and then respond to some questions from listeners. And as a bonus, there's a trivia question mixed in. The rundown is below. Remember, if you have a car-related question you'd like us to answer or you want questionable buying advice of your very own, send a message or a voice memo to podcast at autoblog dot com. Oh, and please send trivia questions! You'll get the honor of stumping your fellow listeners, and we'll thank you too. Autoblog Podcast #491 The video meant to be presented here is no longer available. Sorry for the inconvenience. Topics and stories we mention Stars Selling Cars The Ford Flex is dying SEMA! Dodge Durango Shaker concept New Mercedes inline-six engines Our interview with Jeremy Clarkson and James May Mercedes-Benz E-Class McLaren 570S Ad of the Week: Volvo ABCs of Death Spend My Money on used cars Rundown Intro - 00:00 The news - 02:15 Clarkson/May interview excerpt - 17:12 What we've been driving - 21:12 Ad of the Week - 39:02 Spend My Money/listener questions - 44:13 Total Duration: 57:05 Get The Podcast iTunes – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Feedback Email – Podcast at Autoblog dot com Review the show in iTunes Celebrities Podcasts SEMA Show Cadillac Dodge Ford McLaren Mercedes-Benz Volvo ford flex the grand tour mclaren 570s SEMA 2016

Race recap: 2016 Australian F1 Grand Prix a rowdy start to season

The three brief Formula 1 tests ahead of the current season belied how much had gone on since the last race in November: Infiniti subbed out for Tag Heuer, Renault is back, the all new Haas F1 team, a revamped Manor, three brand new drivers and two returning drivers, a raft of regulation changes among the newly tilled soil. The four engine manufacturers spent a combined 67 tokens among the 138 in the kitty, Renault using just seven of their 32. The only conclusive proof to come from the annual intermission was the otherworldly capability of Mercedes-AMG Petronas. The Silver Arrows didn't even try the super- and ultra-soft tires, focusing on reliability instead of speed. The result? They ran more than 19 race distances, obliterating the lap totals of every other team. There are certainly a few people who enjoyed the complicated new rolling-elimination qualifying format fast-tracked to approval just a few weeks ago. They were wildly outnumbered by those who thought it was awful, including the same team heads who voted for it. We'd probably have to go back to the debacle at the 2005 Indianapolis Grand Prix for an equivalent fiasco when Michelin pulled its teams over safety fears, leaving six cars out of 20 to qualify. In Australia, within 24 hours of the conclusion of qualifying, the new format had itself been eliminated. Nevertheless, qualifying also taught us what didn't happen over the winter: any other team progressing enough to outduel Mercedes. After admitting that he dropped off after winning the championship last year, then getting questioned in the press for some dubious off-season activities, Lewis Hamilton proved he can still turn it on when he wants to. The Brit smoked the Albert Park track in 1:23.837, more than three-tenths of a second ahead of teammate Nico Rosberg in second place. Ferrari did make strides during the off-season, but only enough to keep the same gap it had to Mercedes last year: Sebastian Vettel lined up third, a half-second behind Rosberg, teammate Kimi Raikkonen another four-tenths back in fourth place. Max Verstappen said Toro Rosso is the best of the rest, the Dutchman taking fifth place in front of Felipe Massa for Williams in sixth and Toro Rosso teammate Carlos Sainz in sixth. Daniel Ricciardo – who wasn't smiling after qualifying – kept Red Bull and its new "Tag Heuer" engines in the conversation with eighth on the grid.

McLaren will fight to stay independent

Only one major manufacturer in the competitive set for McLaren cars is independent. The rest - Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche - are owned by mass-market conglomerates. The sole exception is Aston Martin, a small company constantly overcoming the challenges of its independence, now partly with the help of Daimler. McLaren vows to stay solo, though. Its executive director of sales and marketing said that having no one else to answer to helps keep it "very quick to move," with "product development life cycles [that] are very efficient." The company wants to sell 4,000 cars per year by 2017, and it's more than a third of the way there before it's 'volume' model, the 570S, hits dealerships. Last year the company sold 1,648 cars around the world and pegs annual production of the 570S at 2,500 units. The automaking side has done surprisingly well, surprisingly quickly. It only started making cars in 2011 and it turned a profit in 2013. That first car, the MP4-12C, has already morphed into the even better 650S, and McLaren offered 12C buyers a free upgrade. Since then we've been introduced to the P1, the P1 GTR, the 670S, the 675LT, and the 570S, while markets like China get the 650S and the 540C. That's seven vehicles on sale right now, not including race-only options like the 650S GT3, on top of an expanding global dealer network, all done in four years. Having done so well this far, independence would indeed seem to be the only option. Related Video: