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Ron Dennis departs McLaren, ending a golden era in Formula One

LONDON - The departure of Ron Dennis from McLaren, announced on Friday, marks the end of an era for the Formula One team and a farewell to another of the sport's towering figures of yesteryear. News that would once have reverberated like a seismic shock through the grand prix paddock now sounds more like an echo from the past, however. Formula One has undergone a major shift since Dennis commanded the heights as an uncompromising hands-on leader, forging the team in his own image and achieving both unprecedented success and scandal. The sport's 86-year-old commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone went last January, sidelined by new US-based owners Liberty Media, who have since set about transforming the landscape. Before him, long-serving Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo had been ousted from the most glamorous team on the grid, and Max Mosley was replaced at the helm of the governing International Automobile Federation (FIA). Of the big beasts of old, only Frank Williams, the 75-year-old founder of his eponymous team, remains. He is in poor health, and daughter Claire is calling the shots as his deputy. McLaren, the second-most successful team after Ferrari, has meanwhile plumbed the depths - winless since 2012 and last in the current championship. The Honda partnership championed by Dennis, hoping to revive the glory years of the 1980s, has been a dismal failure and is now close to divorce. Dennis, who turned 70 on June 1, had already been relieved of his role at the team last November when fellow shareholders - Bahrain's Mumtalakat Holding Co. and Saudi-born businessman Mansour Ojjeh - brought in American marketing expert Zak Brown. On Friday, McLaren announced Dennis was selling his stake in both McLaren Automotive, the profitable sports car company that was his brainchild, and also in McLaren Technology Group. "It represents a fitting end to my time at McLaren, and will enable me to focus on my other interests," he said in a statement. "I have always said that my 37 years at Woking should be considered as a chapter in the McLaren book, and I wish McLaren every success as it takes the story forward." OBSESSIVE PERFECTIONISM Dennis, who started out as a mechanic with Cooper in 1966, joined McLaren in 1980 when he took over the team founded by the late New Zealander Bruce McLaren.

McLaren's all-electric P1 shows its stuff in new video

If you like your McLaren's electric and fast, then the company has a video for you. Click above to see a short video of the testing process of the new P1 EV. Center driver's seat? Check. Open top? Of course. And did we mention that it hits it's top speed in under two seconds? Oh, yeah. Ok, fine. The McLaren P1 Ride-on edition is a bit of a joke, but until the hybrid BP23 comes along, we'll take it (if only as a gift for the little EV fans in our lives. It's funny how dreams of electric McLarens seem to come up in all sorts of shapes and sizes from time to time. If you want to satisfy your McLaren EV urges now, you can get the Ride-on in Volcano Yellow for just under $500. Related Video: Related Gallery McLaren P1 toy car News Source: YouTube via Hybrid Cars Green Humor Marketing/Advertising McLaren Electric Videos mclaren p1 p1

2017 McLaren 570GT First Drive

The late, great LJK Setright used to rail at engineers who thought that "if you can't measure it, it doesn't exist." There's an element of that in McLaren's starter Sports Series, particularly the 570S, where spectacular performance doesn't quite fill the soul. What McLaren has so far failed to understand is that at this level ($198,950 before state and federal taxes) its products need to appeal to more than just number-obsessed track junkies. While incisive turn-in, roll-free handling ,and jet-fighter fast tick some boxes, others such as space and grace are left resolutely unticked. GT derives from The Grand Tour, a 17th-century European rite-of-passage cultural tour undertaken by well-heeled young blades anxious to see and hear the great works of art and music for themselves; food, wine, and other earthly pleasures might also have been involved. And while the name has been lifted by Clarkson, Hammond, and May for their forthcoming Amazon car show, true petrol heads will more properly associate Grand Tour with the Italian Gran Turismo, a car capable of high-speed, cross-continental peregrination in style, with space for expensive luggage. Whoops, did I mention Italy? Not something done lightly in the presence of McLaren, which has a culture of omerta when it comes to rivals: Ferrari, Lamborghini, and even Audi and Porsche. McLaren Cars might be passionate and fired with the winning spirit of its racing founder Bruce McLaren, the mercurial and talented Kiwi who died in a testing accident at Goodwood 46 years ago, but its clinical approach to the business of making cars leaves some cold. The new 570GT aims to change all that. It's basically a 570S with a glass rear hatchback that opens toward the according sidewalk for right- and left-hand-drive depending on the country of sale. Unlike the S owner cramming luggage behind the seats, the GT owner elegantly posts weekend bags into the leather-floored trunk. Actually the width of the rear fender means they'll likely be dragging them across the all-aluminum bodywork. At least McLaren offers a vinyl-coating service to protect the paint. Another advantage of space is a welcome simplicity to the coachwork. The GT transformation declutters chief designer Rob Melville's basically sound proportions, and they breathe a little better as a result. The hatchback gives an additional 7.8 cubic feet to add to the 5.3 cubic feet under the trunk lid, which added together is more room than in a Ford Focus.