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McLaren-Honda goes 8-bit in Turbo Heroes

Formula One is all about speeding forward, but it's not without its spats of nostalgia – from retro liveries to a return to turbo power. Take, for example, this latest animated short from the McLaren-Honda team. It's called Turbo Heroes, and it sends us back to the days of our childhood in the 1980s and 90s in glorious 8-bit form. Part Street Fighter and part Aryton Senna's Super Monaco Grand Prix, Turbo Heroes is a game-style video short – the start to a series from the looks of things. It portrays an epic battle in which basic animated versions of Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso (coached by a grumpy Ron Dennis, no less) chase the evil Exhaustus in a race to recover the fabled (and equally fictitious) Jade Dragon of Suzuka to its rightful home in Japan. It's brought to you by the same team responsible for the Tooned series that was targeted at today's kids, only this one takes a decidedly different aesthetic approach. If you grew up around the same time as many of us here at Autoblog did, and got a kick out of films like Kung Fury and Scott Pilgrim vs The World, you'll probably enjoy this one. So put on your snapback, grab a can of Jolt Cola, and crank the ghetto blaster you've got hooked up to that Nintendo Entertainment System for a high-speed race down memory lane. You don't even have to blow in the cartridge.

2019 McLaren 600LT — lightweight car gets heavyweight price

We now have word on just how much it'll set you back to buy McLaren's latest ultra-lightweight track-ready but road-legal car: The 600LT Coupe starts at $240,000 and includes what the company calls a "Pure McLaren Road Owner Track Day" at a race circuit with expert driving tuition. Order books are now open at dealers. McLaren says the 592-horsepower sports car is its quickest, most powerful and most track-focused but road-legal Sports Series car. With 457 pound-feet of torque, weighing 211.6 pounds less than the 570S and with upgrades to the cooling system of the twin-turbo 3.8-liter V8, it does 0-62 mph in 2.9 seconds, the equivalent of the McLaren 675LT, and 0-128 mph in just 8.2 seconds. Top speed is 204 mph. The car achieves its weight savings through extensive use of carbon fiber, including in the monocoque chassis, which McLaren says is also around 25 percent stiffer than a comparable aluminum chassis, and the use of forged aluminum double wishbones and uprights in the suspension. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. There are two weight-saving packages available from McLaren Special Operations. For an additional $29,370, the MSO Clubsport Pack adds carbon-fiber racing seats, roof and controls, gloss-finished fender louvres and interior parts fitted in carbon fiber like extended gearshift paddles, steering wheel spokes, switch and IRIS display surrounds, plus titanium wheel bolts. The MSO Clubsport Pro Pack, meanwhile, adds an MSO harness bar and six-point harness for track use in choice of black, blue, red or McLaren Orange, and costs $34,600. The carbon-fiber racing seats are also available as a standalone feature for $6,060, and you can add five-spoke ultra-lightweight aluminum alloy wheels as a $4,950 option (the standard is 10-spoke). Production starts in October and will go for around 12 months, with build slots scheduled around existing Sports and Super Series models and the sold-out Senna, Senna GTR and BP23. It makes its debut tomorrow at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Related Video: Featured Gallery 2019 McLaren 600LT View 13 Photos Image Credit: McLaren McLaren Coupe Lightweight Vehicles Racing Vehicles Performance sports car mclaren sports series mclaren 600lt

F1's Fernando Alonso gets 35-place penalty for latest Honda engine change

MONZA, Italy — McLaren's Fernando Alonso will collect a 35-place grid penalty for Sunday's Italian Grand Prix after Honda announced changes to his car's power unit. The penalty means the double world champion, whose future at McLaren remains uncertain due to the team's continuing engine woes, will start at the back of the 20-car grid for the last European race of the season. His chances were limited anyway at Monza's 'Temple of Speed,' the fastest circuit on the calendar where engine performance is crucial. His Belgian teammate Stoffel Vandoorne suffered a similar fate when he was handed a 65-place penalty for his home race at Spa-Francorchamps last weekend. Such meaningless penalties incurred through no fault of the driver have come increasingly under scrutiny in Formula One with some saying the system has got out of control and must change. "I hate the fact that we're having to affect the racing because of the technical issues," Formula One managing director Ross Brawn, a title-winning former team principal and ex-Ferrari technical director, told motorsport.com. "I know you can say if a car breaks down in a race that's a technical issue and you've affected the race, but I think the fans understand that. "For a fan to stomach that his hero is on the back of the grid because he had to change the engine, that's not great sport," added the Briton. Brawn suggested a different form of penalty, or removing it altogether, but acknowledged that the sport might have to wait until 2021 when new engine regulations will come into force. The current Formula One regulations stipulate that each driver may use no more than four power units during a championship season, with that number due to be reduced to three next year. Each power unit is made up of six separate elements; the engine, the motor generator unit-kinetic (MGU-K), the motor generator unit-heat (MGU-H), the energy store, turbocharger and control electronics. Grid penalties are imposed if a driver uses more than four of any one of the elements during the course of a season, and for successive breaches. Honda said Alonso was now on his seventh engine and MGU-K, his ninth turbocharger and MGU-H, his sixth energy store and fifth control electronics. Alonso retired from the Belgian Grand Prix but some components of the power unit used there will be run again in Friday's second practice after Honda said they could find no obvious problem.