Tag Archives: McLaren

English Day at Exotics@RTC

I didn’t get to Exotics@RTC this year as much as I would have liked.  Sometimes the weather conspired against them and sometimes I couldn’t make it anyway.  I did mange to make some of the special days, though, and one of these was the English Day.  This tends to have more of a vintage feel to it than some of the other special days.  Yes, there are plenty of McLarens and Aston Martins but a lot of older stuff to mix it up a bit.

You get the Bentleys and Rolls (not sure how well they qualify as English anymore) and there are Jags all over the place but there are plenty of less common types and definitely a few of the ones that probably keep mechanics busy.  You have no idea how many jokes about Lucas electrical systems you can hear in the space of an hour.  Aside from these shots, I also took a little video to share with my sister on the day and have edited that down a bit to include below.

McLaren Elva

This car was at the opening weekend of Exotics@RTC and I have to admit I had no idea what it was at the time.  A couple of days later, I saw a YouTube video about it and realized that it was what I had seen.  The McLaren Elva is a strange vehicle.  No roof and not even a windshield.  Apparently, it is strange enough that they are not selling so well and the production run has been reduced.  I guess the best part of two million dollars is too much for a car that requires you to wear googles and probably a helmet!

Too Many McLarens for Me to Know

It doesn’t seem that long ago that there was interest in McLaren starting to develop road cars.  I guess the first time I saw one on the road, we still lived in Chicago, so it has been a while.  However, it still feels very recent.  What I haven’t done is pay much attention to what the different models are.  Consequently, when I am at Exotic@RTC, there are a bunch of McLarens from the local dealer as well as some local owners and I have absolutely no idea which model is which.  Moreover, I don’t know whether or is a base model of “little” interest or a particularly rare example.  I might recognize a Senna by the huge wing but haven’t seen one of those yet.

Instead I just wander around and look at the various cars to see which ones I like the look of.  Their styling is generally pretty nice.  Some of them have more interesting shaping for the aerodynamics (no surprise that is something I am focused on) but the simpler shapes are nice too.  Seeing which colors they bring can be fun too.  Some of the colors are rather vibrant/gaudy.  I was quite interested in one vehicle that was originally painted red but had been wrapped in a matte gray film with just some elements of the red visible around certain areas.

Since I don’t know which model is which, I guess it is probably safer for me to just not bother buying one for now.  I’ll have to do my research to make sure I don’t buy the wrong one.  That would be so embarrassing…

McLaren

C59F3895.jpgThe cool cars were not just restricted to the main gathering area. As I wandered through the lot, a guy found himself a parking spot and pulled in with his McLaren. He hopped out, gave it a quick wipe down and then wandered into the crowds after chatting to a few of us. I only asked him one thing. Had it proved to be all he had hoped it was. “Oh yes!”

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