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McLaren intent on signing Vettel, Alonso

There are several world champions on the Formula One grid this year, but only two multiple world champions. And McLaren wants them both. In fact, the latest reports from pit lane indicate that the British team is undertaking a concerted effort to sign one or both for next year or beyond. According to Autosport, both team principals Ron Dennis and Eric Boullier are focused on signing Sebastian Vettel and/or Fernando Alonso, who have between them taken six of the past nine world championships (the other three belonging to Kimi Raikkonen, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button, all of whom have driven for McLaren) and are prepared not only to pay handsomely, but also to wait: Vettel is currently signed with Red Bull through the end of 2015, and Alonso with Ferrari through 2016. But both have struggled this season with cars that can't keep up with the front-running Mercedes, and could welcome the opportunity to start afresh with a new team – and a highly successful one at that. Of course, McLaren hasn't been at the top of its game lately either, but the Woking outfit is at the dawn of a new era. Next year it's bringing Honda back to the grid with an all-new engine that may take some time to break in but stands a chance of threatening the Mercedes' dominance this season in a way that the Renault and Ferrari engines have not. It just needs the right drivers to pilot them. As of yet, it seems that McLaren has not received a firm "no" from either driver's camp, and appear to be eager to continue pursuing either or both until they're told otherwise. In the meantime, the team is leaving its current drivers Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen in limbo with the prospect of being signed for another year, another few or not at all. It all depends on what becomes of Alonso and Vettel. After winning his back-to-back titles with Renault, Alonso briefly drove for McLaren in 2007. That was the same in which Vettel made his race debut for Toro Rosso, two years before switching to the Red Bull team he's been ever since. News Source: AutosportImage Credit: Clive Mason/Getty Hirings/Firings/Layoffs Motorsports McLaren F1 Sebastian Vettel

Chris Harris pits Aston GT12 vs 911 GT3 RS vs McLaren 650S

The Geneva Motor Show is never lacking in exciting performance machinery. And this year was no exception. Our eyes, like those of Chris Harris, were drawn by two hardcore, track-focused versions of existing sports cars. Both wore the name GT3, and now Harris has brought them together for a supercar shootout. And he's thrown one more in for good measure. Those natural rivals are the Aston Martin Vantage GT12 and Porsche 911 GT3 RS, the latter manufacturer having pressed the former to drop the GT3 name to which it claims exclusive domain. There's a great deal that separates them, of course: one's got a V12 up front, the other a flat-six way in the back. But what binds them together is a common approach of taking an existing model, stripping it down, and tightening everything up to make it more of a weapon than a grand tourer. What that means in the Aston's case is a rather high price tag, much higher than that of the Porsche. But scarce demand and speculation on the open market have left British customers, at least, paying as much for the GT3 RS as for the limited-edition Aston. And that takes both into proper supercar territory. So to show what else that kind of money can get you, Monkey has brought along a McLaren. Not the similarly track-focused 675LT, but the standard 650S... Spider, no less, and with worn hard rubber. So which one performs best on the road? Which clocks the fastest lap time on the track? And which gets Harris' vote? You'll have to watch the video for yourself to find out, but it's well worth the 25 minutes of your lunch break. News Source: Chris Harris on Cars via YouTube Aston Martin McLaren Porsche Videos porsche 911 gt3 chris harris mclaren 650s

McLaren 650S will hit 124 mph in 8.4 seconds

Sometimes an automaker reveals a car, in full, and that's the whole story. But sometimes things get dragged out a bit. The McLaren 650S falls in the latter category, which strikes us as a bit odd considering that it's essentially a massaged version of the existing MP4-12C. No matter, the news here remains impressive all the same. The British racing team turned supercar constructor first announced the arrival of the 650S two weeks ago. A few days later, the first images and video footage leaked out. McLaren quickly released initial details and official photos the next day, but withheld certain information – key details like pricing, and, you know... how fast it can actually go. We still haven't seen the thing in person – that will come next week when the car is unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show – but now McLaren has released official performance stats for its new supercar (along with a trio of new snapshots). So just how quick is it? Well, for starters, it'll run the 0-62 mph sprint in three seconds flat and trip the quarter-mile lights in 10.5 seconds before topping out at 207 miles per hour. That's rather quick no matter how you slice it, but for context, McLaren points us to the car's 0-124 mph time, and how that compares to other cars it's made. At 8.4 seconds, it takes the 650S half a second less to reach that speed than the 12C upon which it's based – that means it's a full second quicker than the legendary McLaren F1. And that's no mean feat considering that, even twenty years later, McLaren's first road car is still the yardstick against which all other supercars are measured. Scope out the rest of the impressive stats in the press release below. PERFORMANCE FIGURES ANNOUNCED FOR THE McLAREN 650S AHEAD OF GENEVA DEBUT Feb 27, 2014 - New McLaren 650S Coupe can accelerate 0-200km/h (0-124mph) in just 8.4 seconds - Faster than rival 'stripped out' road racers, yet offers far superior comfort, refinement and equipment - Available in Coupe and Spider variants from launch As the first example of the McLaren 650S rolled off the line at the state-of-the-art McLaren Production Centre in Woking, McLaren Automotive has released performance numbers and confirmed pricing ahead of the global debut at the 84th International Geneva Motor Show. The latest addition to the McLaren range accelerates to 100km/h (62mph) from rest in just 3.0 seconds, and can reach 200km/h (124mph) in just 8.4 seconds.