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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 celebrates 20 years of Mobil 1 with special livery for Australian GP

Sponsors come and sponsors go in Formula One, but they tend to stick around awhile at McLaren. The team ran under Marlboro title sponsorship for 22 years from 1974 to 1996, and Hugo Boss has been with the team for 33 years now since 1981. But it's the team's partnership with Mobil 1 which it will celebrate with the sinister livery pictured here. With Vodafone having left the team at the end of last season, McLaren is without a title sponsor for this season, and was expected to return to its heritage orange livery for this year's championship. But instead it's starting the season at the Australian Grand Prix with this silver and black livery to celebrate two decades of partnership with ExxonMobil. It may not be quite as sweet as the new Williams Martini Racing livery, but it is pretty slick. Whether it stands a chance of finishing on the podium this weekend, however, is another matter. While McLaren has won the Australian Grand Prix a dozen times – more than any other team – and Jenson Button is one of the winningest drivers in the history of the Aussie race, he and the team haven't been showing too well in pre-season testing. Mobil 1 and McLaren Celebrate 20-Year Partnership in Formula 1 As the 2014 Formula 1 season kicks off this weekend at the Australian Grand Prix, ExxonMobil and McLaren will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of their technical and commercial relationship. In honor of the major milestone, the McLaren Formula 1 cars will feature a special livery in Australia that will include both Mobil 1™ and Mobil™ brands." "To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Mobil 1's relationship with McLaren, we are looking forward to showcasing a special branding scheme during the first race of the 2014 season," said Artis Brown, global motorsports manager, Mobil 1. "There is a lot of energy entering this race. Not only are we celebrating our 20th anniversary with McLaren, but we will be welcoming Kevin Magnussen to the team. When you combine these elements with the introduction of the new V-6 engine, this should be a very exciting weekend." Jonathan Neale, Chief Operating Officer and Acting CEO of McLaren Mercedes said, "We are privileged to have worked closely with ExxonMobil over a very successful 20 years and counting. During 332 races together we have achieved four world championships, 78 wins, 229 podium finishes and 76 pole positions, which is testament to our powerful technology partnership.

Apple takeover of McLaren makes Project Titan sound a lot more interesting [UPDATE]

UPDATE : A McLaren spokesperson confirmed to Autoblog that these reports are untrue: "We can confirm that McLaren is not in discussion with Apple in respect of any potential investment." A spokesperson further told Business Insider that the Financial Times' report is completely untrue and that the automaker is not holding any talks with Apple in regard to a takeover or a strategic investment. Apple is considering buying McLaren Technology Group, a British automotive manufacturer, and is currently holding talks with the company, reports the Financial Times. According to three individuals that are currently in on the negotiations, the California-based technology group is thinking about a full takeover of the British automaker or a strategic investment. The anonymous sources claim that talks started several months ago. A collaboration between Apple and McLaren, from the automaker's standpoint at least, is puzzling. Apple has been working on its autonomous, electric vehicle for over two years now, while McLaren hasn't revealed any interest in creating a self-driving car. McLaren, though, isn't posting healthy profits as the Financial Times claims that the automaker reported a revenue of $344 million and pre-tax losses of $29.3 million in 2014. For Apple, a partnership with McLaren could prove to be fruitful as the company would have access to the automaker's high-tech chassis materials and engineering components, kicking the company's automotive project into overdrive. The Financial Times reports that Apple is interested in McLaren's patent portfolio, technology, and engineering prowess, which would surely help the technology company with its automotive project. Earlier this month, Apple reportedly laid off dozens of employees to "reboot" its automotive program. While there's no word on what the "reboot" included, the Financial Times' anonymous sources claim that the deal might not go ahead because of the recent shift in Apple's automotive project. According to the Financial Times' unnamed sources, McLaren Technology owns 80 percent of McLaren Automotive and is valued at between $1.29 and $1.95 billion. If the deal between McLaren and Apple were to go through, that would make it the technology company's largest acquisition since the company bought Beats Electronics for $3 billion in 2014. This isn't the first time Apple invested in a company that focuses on transportation. The technology company recently invested China's main Uber competitor – Didi Chuxing.