2013 Mclaren Mp4-12c Spider on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Rowan Atkinson selling his McLaren F1 for $12M

Likely most associated in the US with his portrayal as the bumbling Mr. Bean, British comedian Rowan Atkinson has been quite an auto fanatic for years, making several appearances and at least one crash at the Goodwood Revival. When not racing or acting, he's known for driving a dark purple McLaren F1, but the supercar is now up for sale. Atkinson isn't just giving it away, though, with an asking price of 8 million pounds ($12 million). Atkinson bought the iconic McLaren new in 1997 but has crashed it at least twice since then. The first was a low-speed hit with an Austin Metro in 1999, but a shunt in 2011 did much more harm. McLaren Special Operations reportedly estimated the cost to rebuild the F1 at 910,000 pounds, and Atkinson's insurance company paid to have it done, according to the Western Daily Press in the UK. Now, the McLaren is up for sale by broker Taylor and Crawley with 41,000 miles on it, though it's not pictured on the company's website, as of this writing. "Apart from the accidents, I think Rowan has enjoyed every minute with the F1 and I think he will have withdrawal when it is gone," said David Clark, owner of Taylor and Crawley, to the Western Daily Press. The price of Atkinson's F1 is certainly eye watering. One sold in the UK for about $5.6 million in 2012 and a GTR version went for $5.28 million in 2014. Gooding and Company even estimated one at $12-$14 million during the Monterey Car Week.

McLaren says it 'is a sports car brand' and won't make SUVs

You can add McLaren to the list of luxury and sports car companies to say it will not build an SUV, the automaker's CEO Mike Flewitt telling Bloomberg, "We need to remain very focused. McLaren is a sports car brand and that's exactly what we're going to remain." In spite of those words, in order to save his voice, Flewitt should get business cards made printed with that response, since the question will certainly keep being asked. And if the coming Lamborghini and Bentley SUVs do well, observers will expect Flewitt's ideas on the subject to "evolve," no matter what he or Ron Dennis says publicly. The evolution we refer to has taken place at BMW, which was never going to make a M version of its SUVs, and Porsche, which said it wouldn't make an SUV smaller than the Cayenne. Furthermore, there's Rolls-Royce, whose CEO said the company hadn't even considered an SUV because it wouldn't fit the brand's values, meanwhile rumors abounded that the company was gauging customer reaction to a sketch of a concept SUV adorned with the Spirit of Ecstasy. And five months later that same CEO said the company was "intesively thinking" about building one. Those are but few and recent examples. If McLaren doesn't waver, it will join Ferrari as the only pure-sports car company holdouts. Featured Gallery 2015 McLaren P1: First Drive View 39 Photos News Source: BloombergImage Credit: Copyright 2014 AOL McLaren Performance Mike Flewitt

2015 Japanese Grand Prix is a little Mercedes, a lot of zen

Just one week on from the issues in Singapore Mercedes-AMG Petronas appeared to have solved its clamp problems and everything else. Daniil Kvyat at Infiniti Red Bull Racing took the two Free Practice scalps on Friday, but when it came time for qualifying the front of the grid looked really familiar: Mercedes' Nico Rosberg took his second pole position of the season, Lewis Hamilton next to him in second. Kvyat had a hand in that, too, the Russian getting into a big accident in Q3 when he put two wheels on the grass heading into the hairpin and veered into the tire wall so hard that he flipped. That ended qualifying before a number of drivers had a chance to improve their times, Hamilton among them. That's how Valtteri Bottas got in third for Willliams ahead of Sebastian Vettel fourth for Ferrari. Felipe Massa had the second Williams in fifth, ahead of Kimi Raikkonen in the second Ferrari. Daniel Ricciardo lined up sixth for Infiniti Red Bull Racing, a team we're going to have to enjoy watching for the rest of the season since it might not exist come 2016. Romain Grosjean gave Lotus some good news by getting into eighth, the team so strapped for cash that it couldn't get into its hospitality area, so it held press conferences outside and ate at Bernie Ecclestone's Paddock Club. Sergio Perez took ninth for Sahara Force India, and Kvyat slotted into tenth after not setting a time. The Russsian's race would begin from the pit lane once his mechanics rebuilt his car. It wouldn't be a Formula One start lately without someone at the front having clutch problems. This time it was pole man Rosberg, whose power unit got too hot and put him a few horsepower down on Hamilton through Turns 1 and 2. That's half of how Hamilton took the lead from the lights going out, and the Brit kept it throughout the race. Rosberg, however, said his race was lost when Hamilton pushed him wide through Turn 2, a move Hamilton defended. Rosberg finished almost 19 seconds behind his teammate, a gap that probably isn't fully explained by that opening incident. Hamilton's race was so uneventful that we almost never saw him on camera – that is, we saw him so much less than we usually see him when he's out in front and unpressured that Nikki Lauda said he'd ask Ecclestone why the cameras avoided him. The conspiracy theory holds that FOM was punishing Mercedes for not supplying Red Bull with engines next year.