McLaren is set to sell of certain number of its heritage cars amid COVID-19 pandemic as Honda notes about using F1 tech in the new Jazz road car.
The situation at McLaren has been rather interesting. On the F1 side, they were the first to announce furlough with the rest of the teams following suit apart from Mercedes, Red Bull Racing and Ferrari. There were also reports of financial help request from Government.
It was turned down and now – as per Sky News – McLaren is looking to sell off some of its heritage cars with discussions ongoing with JP Morgan. The idea is to raise between £250m and £275m by borrowing against the value of its HQ and their collection of cars
The list of the cars hasn’t been mentioned or probably not decided yet but it includes Bruce McLaren and Ayrton Senna’s machines. The report adds that in March, the company’s shareholders from Bahrain injected £300m of equity into McLaren.
“Like many other British businesses McLaren has been severely affected by the current pandemic and we are therefore exploring a variety of different funding options to help navigate these short-term business interruptions,” a McLaren spokesperson was quoted.
While the finances are being worked out, the F1 side has seen a driver change with Carlos Sainz leaving for Ferrari after 2020 and Daniel Ricciardo coming in alongside Lando Norris. The Australian is a ‘well paid driver’ as Zak Brown noted it on Sky F1 interview.
Elsewhere, Honda released details of its new Jazz road car, which has F1 tech infused. They have the Japanese manufacturer’s Hybrid Power Unit programme instilled to improve the energy efficiency of the brand’s e:HEV hybrid system.
Honda has used the expertise developed in running hybrid power units at optimum efficiency and power output during their work in F1, which in turn has helped in the inspiration with regards to e:HEV powertrains in their road cars such as Jazz.
The new car’s e:HEV hybrid system recycles energy and harnesses it to charge the battery and support engine output, for strong performance, seamless switching between drive modes and maximum efficiency.
Yasuaki Asaki, Head of PU Development, said: “During a F1 race weekend teams have to manage very carefully how much fuel they use to comply with the sport’s regulations. In a race we can divide the total fuel allowance over the number of laps, but there are going to be situations where a team might wish to use more fuel in order to get higher performance and in other parts of the race they will want to save fuel for later, while behind a SC.
“In a race, the communication between the race engineer and the driver is key to achieving that best balance. However, in our road-going e:HEV hybrids we apply our expertise to ensure the Powertrain control units deliver the best possible power to efficiency ratio for the driver, in any required driving mode.”
Here’s what Zak Brown spoke after the huge driver changes at McLaren, Ferrari
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