- Title: ENGLAND: MOTOR RACING - MCLAREN'S NEW FORMULA ONE CAR, THE MP4-18A LAUNCHED.
- Date: 20th May 2003
- Summary: WOKING, NEAR LONDON, UK 1. VARIOUS SHOTS OF NEW MP4-18A 2. (SOUNDBITE) (English) ADRIAN NEWEY, TECHNICAL DIRECTOR, SAYS :" General design directives are always the same, to basically make the car quicker, which is all the fundamentals of improving aerodynamic efficiency, reducing the centre of gravity height and improving the handling of the car and hence the cornering performance. I think it's a big step forward from where we were." 3. MORE SHOTS OF CAR 4. (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIRECTOR OF ENGINEERING NEIL OATLEY SAYS: " A lot of effort and a lot of time has gone into the 18 spread over a long period of time so I think we've ended up with a structurally superior car, much more tightly packaged, much more weight efficient and we're expecting quite a significant improvement in lap time because of all that." 5. (SOUNDBITE) (English) ADRIAN NEWEY SAYS : " At this time with the car about to run it's always slightly nervous I suppose, on paper, in terms of our wind tunnel figures, our simulations on the car overall then the performance improvement looks a reasonable step, but of course simulation is of course that it's a simulation, so it might not be 100 per cent accurate. So there's that tentitiveness at the moment to see if our simulations are correct or whether there are some hidden nasties trying to bite us that we have to try and understand. The 2003 car is evolutionary in some respects, in other respects it's quite different. We've tried to package the car very tightly so it's quite a lot smaller than the MP4/17 and really pushed quite hard to come up with an aerodynamically efficient package which also allows a low centre of gravity, so we're trying to get the aerodynamics and the mechanical side of the car to work in harmony." 6. MANAGING DIRECTOR MARTIN WHITMARSH SAYS : " We're pleased that last year's car has been improved and has been more compettive and has been able to be on the front row in Austria, but of course we aim to be in pole position, and that's why we're bringing out a new car, which is a step forward, the 18X and beyond that we have an 18 A, which is a further step forward in improvement." Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 3rd June 2003 13:00
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- Location: WOKING, NEAR LONDON, UK
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- Country: United Kingdom
- Reuters ID: LVA9WLMWZURMVB8KZ158XMIE3B41
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