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Drivers buy new $300K McLaren 720S, 2019 Chevy Corvette, and wreck 'em

Two high-powered, high-priced sports cars, wrecked in their infancies. No doubt they were fun while they lasted. In Great Falls, Va., a tony suburb of Washington, D.C., that hugs the Potomac River, someone was out enjoying driving the McLaren 720S they had purchased only the day before on a leafy, two-lane road. Then, horror: In an instant, the car hit a tree, mangled and destroyed "because of speed," according to the Fairfax County Police Department. Purchased Friday. Totaled Saturday. This McLaren 720S, costing around $300,000, was destroyed today in Great Falls because of speed. The driver was taken to the hospital with thankfully only non-life threatening injuries. A reminder to slow down, or it could cost you. pic.twitter.com/XhC3LKRY1t — Fairfax County Police (@FairfaxCountyPD) July 14, 2018 Then on salvage auction site Copart, a brand-new orange 2019 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport lies in a warehouse in Lincoln, Neb., its front left corner crushed, wheel askew. It had just 15 miles on the odometer. We know nothing of the backstory, except for the obvious front-end damage and secondary damage to the undercarriage. The rear end and 6.2-liter V8 engine, which makes 460 horsepower and 465 pound-feet of torque, look OK. The most current bid as this was published was just north of $9,000. It's tempting in both cases to assign the blame to over-eager drivers who weren't quite yet able to corral all that power. In the case of the McLaren, the supercar makes 710 horsepower and 568 pound-feet of torque from its quad-cam, twin-turbo 4.0-liter V8. It goes from 0-62 miles per hour in 2.9 seconds and boasts a top speed of 212 mph. We're not saying the unidentified driver was a newbie, but this car is definitely not for newbies. Police write that the incident is "A reminder to slow down, or it could cost you." As in, $300,000. Or at least the depreciation for driving it off the lot. Related Video:

McLaren applies to trademark 'Sabre' with USPTO

In October 2018, The Supercar Blog dished on how exotic car collector and Instagram user dan_am_i had arranged with McLaren's MSO division to procure a special supercar. The working name of the new coupe was "Bespoke Commission BC-03," and it was rumored to be a road-going take on McLaren's Ultimate Vision Gran Turismo concept from October 2017. The Woking automaker's Vision GT was a track-only single-seater with 1,134 horsepower and 940 pound-feet of torque erupting from a 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 powering the rear wheels and two high-output electric motors powering the fronts. Last October, someone put renders of the BC-03 on Instagram (pictured), the car's lines spread over a design spectrum stretching from the Senna to the Vision GT. Grand Tour Nation recently came across a trademark application McLaren submitted to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to reserve the name "McLaren Sabre." A saber, as our brand of English spells it, is defined in its noun form as "a heavy cavalry sword with a curved blade and a single cutting edge," in its verb form as to "cut down or wound with a saber." Based on a few bits of circumstantial evidence that we found at the McLaren Life forum, we believe the name will be applied to the production version of the BC-03.   Compare the BC-03 renders to this Instagram post of a camouflaged, fire-spewing McLaren caught testing after dark last September on what appears to be a track. It features the same shark fin and wing, same exhaust placement, same diffuser, very similar graphic over the engine bay. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. In January of this year, Instagram user cococulture_ had business at the McLaren customer design studio. While there, they logged video of a scale version of the BC-03 under a cover. The caption is the gotcha:  This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. After checking our notes, we feel confident affirming that "Sabre" starts with an "S." Of course, nothing is certain until McLaren puts the coupe on the display stand, but the evidence lines up so far for the BC-03 to become the Sabre. The original coverage from two years ago claimed there'd be five examples made, with three of them spoken for. New numbers from McLaren Life posters say there will be 15 units built, all for the U.S. market, all reserved for McLaren Automotive's best VIP customers.

McLaren Automotive CEO Mike Flewitt resigns

McLaren Automotive Chief Executive Officer Mike Flewitt will step down after eight years leading the closely held company, which has started a search for a successor. The Woking, England-based supecar maker said Wednesday that Michael Macht, a McLaren Group non-executive director, will oversee technical and operational functions, while Chairman Paul Walsh will lead sales, marketing and public relations. Flewitt joined McLaren as chief operating officer in June 2012, and became CEO just over a year later. The carmaker controlled by Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat has been repairing its finances after the pandemic halted production and scuppered the Formula 1 racing franchise. In July, McLaren raised 550 million pounds ($755 million) from existing investors and the sale of preference shares and equity warrants to new backers Ares Management Corp. and Saudi ArabiaÂ’s Public Investment Fund. It also raised $620 million from a bond issue. In April, the company sold and leased back its headquarters in Woking, near London. And late last year, McLaren Group agreed to sell as much as a third of its racing unit to a consortium of U.S.-based investors. Combining with a blank-check firm is an option McLaren may consider around mid-decade if all goes well with its restructuring efforts, a person familiar with the matter said in December of last year. Such deals have been popular among auto manufacturers, with Volvo Car Group-backed electric-vehicle maker Polestar announcing a combination with a special purpose acquisition company last month. Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.