Re: Fifth Gear: McLaren MP4-12C vs Ferrari 458 Italia
GT:
it would feel as good or better than a 458 as it is lighter and has the carbon tube chassis. Carbon chassis is a lot more responsive than the space frames etc that others use. However mclaren chose to soften things too much so that anyone can drive it at 9/10s..
Everything can be easily rectified except the transmission which is a big development work
The big issue for McLaren is that it actually appears to need to be reworked quickly. Everyone gets it wrong at some point but to do so after building up such high expectations is a PR disaster at this level and absolutely critical for a brand trying to establish itself a front runner.
Ferrari released a similar problem in it's day - the 348. That car had wayward handling and it took them a long time to shake off that cloud and the development of the F355 to silence the critics. The 348 never recovered in terms of residual value from that episode and still to this day carries that stigma in the minds of potential buyers. Luca even joked at the launch of the 458 that the 348 was the worst car Ferrari had built and that he was once smoked at a set of traffic lights by a Golf GTi shortly after the launch of the car. The 12C may well suffer the same fate as these test results will remain in the collective memory of the blogosphere and forever damage the car. Early buyers of the car may find they take a hit on residuals when they expected to sell at list or even for a premium after 6 or 12 months of use.
McLaren need to quickly move on and work on saving their brand image in the medium term. The launch of their next model has to go without a hitch and preferrably without the pre-launch hype this time. A few consecutive winds on race tracks around the world every other Sunday or so are badly needed now to deflect attention in a positive way.
Even if they supply Sport Auto with a car in the Autumn which blitzes their track time standings the wider public will always have the suspicion that in the intervening months McLaren heavily reworked the car to obtain them and is it representative of early customer spec cars. Mud sticks I'm afraid.