Mercedes 'to buy stake in Brawn GP'

[axle]

MP4 is the personal brand for Ron Dennis's own ventures. 12 is the vehicle performance category in McLaren's internal nomenclature and C stands for Carbon body shell.

A bit of a dumb scheme marketing wise but whenever did Ron care as long as his personal dream is expressed. I don't think the car sales will profit from the name. It's Ronspeak in marketing communication.

I read somewhere the whole MP4 was short from 'Marlboro Power' from back in the day. Cant remember why the number 4? Now app. they just say it means 'McLaren Power'

Always thought the MP4 came from the 4th major monocoque solution. MP4 was the first carbon tub wasn't it? Hence I figured it was Monocoque Prototype or something like that.

[astracrazy]

MP4 is the personal brand for Ron Dennis's own ventures. 12 is the vehicle performance category in McLaren's internal nomenclature and C stands for Carbon body shell.

A bit of a dumb scheme marketing wise but whenever did Ron care as long as his personal dream is expressed. I don't think the car sales will profit from the name. It's Ronspeak in marketing communication.

I read somewhere the whole MP4 was short from 'Marlboro Power' from back in the day. Cant remember why the number 4? Now app. they just say it means 'McLaren Power'

Always thought the MP4 came from the 4th major monocoque solution. MP4 was the first carbon tub wasn't it? Hence I figured it was Monocoque Prototype or something like that.

Just got a quote from wiki

The McLaren MP4/1 (initially known as the MP4) was a Formula One racing car produced by the McLaren team. It was used during the 1981,1982 and 1983 seasons. It was the first Formula One car to use a carbon fibre composite monocoque, a concept which is now ubiquitous.

The MP4 was the first car to be built following the merger of the McLaren team and Ron Dennis' Project 4 team, as the car's name (short for "Marlboro Project 4")[1] indicates.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McLaren_MP4/1

Both right. Apart from its project not power

[sticky667]

seems it would just be Mclaren/Project 4... MP4

[noname]

I did not find topic related more strictly with McLaren's preparation to 2010 so I've decided to use this one.

"McLaren to snap up BMW's F1 engine division?"

http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/headlines/n ... 0722.shtml

[WhiteBlue]

Not such a big surprise if Merc and McLaren shift things earlier. These kind of things have their own dynamics. It is not going to make McLaren stronger IMHO.

Red Bull and Williams could profit from the trend of manufacturers reducing the cash to F1. Frankly I'm very surprised that Williams may drop Toyota for Cosworth apparently. I thought they were going for Renault but the rumor says Cosworth.

[xpensive]

Complete rubbish of course, if McLaren wants to design and build their own Formula 1 engine, they surely don't need no Bavarian egineers to do it for them.

[timbo]

Red Bull and Williams could profit from the trend of manufacturers reducing the cash to F1. Frankly I'm very surprised that Williams may drop Toyota for Cosworth apparently. I thought they were going for Renault but the rumor says Cosworth.

Perhaps mister E has something to say about that.

[noname]

as far as I remember McLaren was using engines from external suppliers.
even F1's engine was designed by... BMW

it would not be a bad idea to use existing experience instead of starting from scratch.

[Pup]

They will need facilities to produce and test their engines, and there is certainly some expertise at BMW that McLaren can use. But only time will tell if the rumor is a dud, or if Whitmarsh is putting up a smokescreen. There are certainly valid political reasons for them to deny this for now.

I could also see Ron buying up the facility without telling Martin. Or they could be buying it though Mahle, or Menard, whom I've been told designed their road engine.

[xpensive]

I figure it depends on who becomes FIA prez, with Todt and possibly MrM as F1 commissioner it could be problems?

[Raptor22]

There is an article on autosport:

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/78399

Interesting to see Mercedes increase their exposure in F1 while BMW are pulling out.

Mercedes Benz, part of the Diamler group is a very large company with farmore resources than BMW which is privately owned.
BMW does nothave the cash to burn on poor F1 results when that budget could be spent on new technology for their road cars ie.
hybrid technology
Direct injection petrol engines
light weight chassis design
auto on/off engine technology
hydrogen fuel cell technology.

Mercedes Benz has the resources to spend in F1 as well as tackle these projects.