enduro911

Hi guys. I've heard conflicting stories about how the Mclarens hold up on track, especially in the heat. I think this group among others is more likely to use their cars on a track day so I thought it'd be a good place to ask.How's the durability been? Have you experienced some minor power loss due to heat soak (turbos)? The reason I ask is I found a thread on Mclarenlife where the owner is doing some tuning of his own.

http://www.mclarenlife.com/forums/ar...p/t-61274.html

I believe he indicates the car is prone to heatsoak so I wanted to hear the P-car track crowd's take. With Mclaren keeping the wraps on owners tinkering with the cars and doing their own work, I think it would be particularly important to have this box mentally checked in your head as an owner that would consider tracking. TIA! :beer:

C.J. Ichiban

I think that the best streetcar mclaren to track so far has been the 675LT. All components of the car are sturdier (like an RS vs a c2S) but still with all that power, the effective cooling cycle is slightly more of a mystery for owners. You have to do at least one cool down lap to help the car cool off, otherwise it will in fact stay too hot, vicious cycle.

I have not had any overheating issues in my cars but also have not tracked them above 92-95F ambient. About 25 days total. The main issues I have seen so far:

Brake fluid
Tire wear

Parking brake is a bitch and you have to do a weird "turn it off then open door then soft start it then disengage parking brake while foot is on the brake" otherwise you overheat your PB and then your rear rotors. ALTERNATE: On spiders you just take roof down, turn car off and climb over door and PB never goes on (open automatically when door opens).

Also if you drive with ESC ON then you will wear the rear rotors. You have no diff so the brakes are the diff and the TCS / ESC.

Most of the hardcore Mac dudes just buckle and buy a 570GT4.

isv

Mclaren have taken a leaf out of Porsche and have coolant hose clips coming loose on some cars and therefore dumping coolant like the old mezger engined cars. That's mainly with the 650/12cs though, I haven't heard of a 675 or 570 doing that yet and have been assured the 720 has a different design supposed to solve that.

My car has been mainly ok on track (~50 trackdays since I've owned it since 2012). In high temperatures like 30+ degrees, the car can and will throw a temporary CEL if tracked for an extended time but otherwise it has been fine, i always do a cooling lap though. That said after 4 years being trouble free I have started to run into quite a few more issues of late but have so far been well taken care of by the extended warranty.

Oem brake pads are crap though, I'd suggest changing to pagid rs29s asap if on iron rotors and the ceramic rotors on the Mclaren do not last long at all on track.

Nizer

Ugh. Nothing worse for a tracker.

enduro911

CJ, thanks for the insight, very interesting. Couple follow-up questions.

- Is the effective cooling cycle to which you refer related to oil temps, coolant temps, turbo heat soak, brake fade, or some combo/all of the above?

- I'm assuming that with an open rear the car will put in lap times anywhere near what it's capable of doing if you turn the systems off. Am I correct?

- Do you think that Mclaren's building the cars in such a way is a tease to get people to make the jump to a GT4?


Thanks isv. I had heard the brakes were a weak point and CJ confirms that. Not ideal, but sounds fixable.

Apppreciate the openess guys. I get the impression based on Mclaren's culture that these issues won't sit well once the factory starts getting feedback. Hopefully they can rectify the durability issues going forward. The cars seem to be extremely well made otherwise.

C.J. Ichiban

I'm not saying the brakes are weak I am saying that the ESC roasts the brakes (same as old 997 Pccb)

Hacks: chevy z/28 rotors fit

Heating: nothing is free- and you need a lot of radiators to cool them. Hence, people have had leaks from rubber expansion type issues (same as 997 GT3).

By and large McLaren stands behind their stuff but some drivers could break wolverine's adamantium skeleton if they leased it for 36
Months at 10k a year.

skxf430

CJ,

What do those cost new?

I haven't seen any on the used market yet but I would imagine soon after the racing season is over.

shapiroeric

I believe those are about $225K new

C.J. Ichiban

Around 225 which is to say about the same cost as a street 570. When you frame it that way, a good cost ratio.

Guest89

What did VOLT Racing / Alan Brynjolfsson do with theirs?

CAlexio

Little Mclaren roundup north of San Francisco on hwy 1 today... amazing what some active suspension and downforce can do to help you tame 987hp even on twisty coastal mountain roads.

Ayrton Senna's nephew came along for that extra little pizzazz.. I can see the resemblance.

laranja

I see more RESEMBLANCE -> Your shoes to Senna's famous loafers!

C.J. Ichiban

Repeatedly crashed them

RealityGT

Nice shoes, CAlexio!

CAlexio

LOL, you guys notice ALL the important details. it's colored pants week this week.. yellow and red ones may make an appearance