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Hey Gary, you definitely have a good dealer and know McLaren SF well and been to a few of their events local at Laguna and COTA. Im not sure what i would do though, planning, spending money on insurance, track fee's, hotels and going home repeatedly after a session, two or day with issues and this seems to be more frequent than not for those that i know. From wheel locks, steering wheel issues, injector, missing random exterior pieces, to limp modes, etc it just sucks to be in that situation. Even at the McLaren factory events almost all the cars were in limp mode and they just said not to worry about it, that was back in 2019 and they have fixed much of those issues but still. I absolutely luv the 765LT and it seems to be doing a lot better than the 720s so fingers crossed most of the issues have been worked out.
I'm really not trying to talk you into anything, just relaying my experiences. Haven't heard any horror stories from my Mac buds that track heavily. All that said, I still think Porsche is the better track choice for most avid trackers, less expensive and the superior rubber-to-horsepower ratio plus aero makes for a more controlled environment. But honestly, if you have the wherewithal and the cojones there is nothing quite like a 600T or 765LT, and even the 720S is quite a thrill on track.
Some good points but sad Mclaren dealers work like this.
I know my local dealer well as the guys use to work for Porsche and other places, they know I am interested and confirmed Track pre and post inspections to be done myself or via my local track support shop. I told them this would be a deal breaker if they mandated that the car always goes back to them and they confirmed they have a few customers who do their own work for track use. The dealer themselves rent out tracks for experience days and encouraged track use, i guess not all dealers are the same.
I guess if you buy the Mclaren from the same dealer you get to know, some flexibility is thrown in.
Not sure I would 100% trust the dealer on that, after all McLaren would have to pay and they may not be quite so generous. i guess if they put that in purchase contract you would be safe. My McLaren dealer indicated similar but I ended up getting a 675LT which is out of factory warranty.
Verbal promises, i wouldnt play that game. I know people who have been told the same and so far so good but what happens when the GM, service manager, head tech moves on or the factory becomes more difficult to deal with? Actually requesting service and track pre and post inspections before authorizing claims? Fudging stuff officially gets problematic and that is where things will breakdown.
I agree with your thoughts although 2 florida dealers have said the same that they sell allot of cars to out of state clients who service and maintain their own cars and track quite heavily. Full Warranty applies according to them as lack of dealerships in key areas to support.
I would have it in writing for sure if i went down this route.
I track and I track a lot. There's about 30 mclaren owners in my circle of friends in California. Mclarens outnumber gt3rs, gt2rs at track days now and usually by a wide margin..
Many of the guys tracking with mclarens used to own porsche's.
warranty and track inspections - Porsche manual clearly says that they may or may not cover a car warranty if something happens on track. (this is written in the actual owner's handbooks). A few porsche owners found out that if they flog their car on track then things aren't going to be covered.
mac track inspections are more involved then just doing a visual inspection (it includes brake flush everytime and weighing of rotors, checking of oil). You'll figure it out that the track inspections are mainly for people who don't know anything about D.I.Y., don't know how to measure tire depth or knowing if their pads need replacing. Most of the frequent track guys are D.I.Y. or have a third party race team do this type of work.
Reliability or lack of it is just talking points from people with very little experience with the cars. It's getting boring and has been boring for quite some time.
i own the various marques. I have about 12,000 track miles in the mclarens. Going aftermarket brakes (giro/cobalt specifically), goodyear tires and it makes tracking mclarens cheaper then gt2rs/gt3rs. (mainly due to the porsche tires being wider and more expensive).
I track and I track a lot. There's about 30 mclaren owners in my circle of friends in California. Mclarens outnumber gt3rs, gt2rs at track days now and usually by a wide margin..
Many of the guys tracking with mclarens used to own porsche's.
warranty and track inspections - Porsche manual clearly says that they may or may not cover a car warranty if something happens on track. (this is written in the actual owner's handbooks). A few porsche owners found out that if they flog their car on track then things aren't going to be covered.
mac track inspections are more involved then just doing a visual inspection (it includes brake flush everytime and weighing of rotors, checking of oil). You'll figure it out that the track inspections are mainly for people who don't know anything about D.I.Y., don't know how to measure tire depth or knowing if their pads need replacing. Most of the frequent track guys are D.I.Y. or have a third party race team do this type of work.
Reliability or lack of it is just talking points from people with very little experience with the cars. It's getting boring and has been boring for quite some time.
i own the various marques. I have about 12,000 track miles in the mclarens. Going aftermarket brakes (giro/cobalt specifically), goodyear tires and it makes tracking mclarens cheaper then gt2rs/gt3rs. (mainly due to the porsche tires being wider and more expensive).
You do have some beautiful cars and well tracked~!!! Your relationship with McLaren cant be compared though to the average folks buying their first...
I track and I track a lot. There's about 30 mclaren owners in my circle of friends in California. Mclarens outnumber gt3rs, gt2rs at track days now and usually by a wide margin..
Many of the guys tracking with mclarens used to own porsche's.
warranty and track inspections - Porsche manual clearly says that they may or may not cover a car warranty if something happens on track. (this is written in the actual owner's handbooks). A few porsche owners found out that if they flog their car on track then things aren't going to be covered.
mac track inspections are more involved then just doing a visual inspection (it includes brake flush everytime and weighing of rotors, checking of oil). You'll figure it out that the track inspections are mainly for people who don't know anything about D.I.Y., don't know how to measure tire depth or knowing if their pads need replacing. Most of the frequent track guys are D.I.Y. or have a third party race team do this type of work.
Reliability or lack of it is just talking points from people with very little experience with the cars. It's getting boring and has been boring for quite some time.
i own the various marques. I have about 12,000 track miles in the mclarens. Going aftermarket brakes (giro/cobalt specifically), goodyear tires and it makes tracking mclarens cheaper then gt2rs/gt3rs. (mainly due to the porsche tires being wider and more expensive).
Not many Macs at the events I attend on the east coast. I do plan to track my 675 but do have to figure out the brake situation - as you say above, from the little information I can find the giro/cobalt seems to be a common switch but do you know anyone either running the AP brakes (use this set up on my RS) or using the brembo rotors from GM (corvette uses the same rotor)?
re the track pre/post inspections, yes that is not difficult and I do this myself for the RS but the question is if Mac will honor the warranty if not bought to an authorized dealer for these inspections, from my experience Porsche honor warranty claims arising from track use.
If you switch to steels then the pre and post check via self is so much easier with the dealer they said, a few Mclaren owners in Florida are doing their own checks, it seems Central Florida and Tampa dealers are very happy with owners and independent shops doing these reports, especially when on Giros so you don't need to take steels off to weigh for safety.
The Mclaren checklist is almost identical to a PCA Pre-Tech sheet, such nonsense but the check is more for safety reasons than checking how hard you beat it LOL. Dealer close to me was laughing at the sheet saying even the factory calls it a safety check.
I've owned two Macs (currently 720S, previously 570S) and that hasn't been my experience at all. Both have been solid (total 5 years/25k miles) and my local dealer (McLaren SF) is simply terrific to work with, both sales and service. I hear the horror stories on the forums but my experience and those of my Mac buddies does not fit your description in any way.
Gary,
I totally agree with you. McLaren SF is my local dealer as well and have had nothing but great experiences with them. As I've said before I've been a diehard Porsche enthusiast for decades and continue to be with a 993 RUF Turbo R, 991.2 gt3RS and 992 TTS currently in the stable.
But fellas, IMO none of them compare to the performance and thrill and experience behind the wheel of the two Mac's (600LT and 720S) I've spent the last 2 years and nearly 10K miles with. And for what it's worth they both have been problem free.
Which is why this one showed up recently! will be sad to see the other two go, but some incredible memories behind the wheel of both!
Wow, that's just spectacular! Well done, I know you'll love it!
Originally Posted by kmy
Gary,
I totally agree with you. McLaren SF is my local dealer as well and have had nothing but great experiences with them. As I've said before I've been a diehard Porsche enthusiast for decades and continue to be with a 993 RUF Turbo R, 991.2 gt3RS and 992 TTS currently in the stable.
But fellas, IMO none of them compare to the performance and thrill and experience behind the wheel of the two Mac's (600LT and 720S) I've spent the last 2 years and nearly 10K miles with. And for what it's worth they both have been problem free.
Which is why this one showed up recently! will be sad to see the other two go, but some incredible memories behind the wheel of both!
08-03-2021, 01:14 PM
