What’s better than 1 SLR? 2 SLRs!
Weekend afternoons are made for admiring cars.
Having two of these in one photo is a dream. It’s surreal, not gonna lie. I’m not only theSLRgirl, I’m a McLaren fan. To me, they’re the most important automotive brand. Between car friends, I call them “the greatest experiment in the automotive industry”. They’re always first. Being first means exploring the uncharted territory - something I truly admire. “Unreliability” (something most of you associate with McLaren) is just the price you pay to drive the first and the best. You don’t buy McLaren because you want reliability - there’s a boring Porsche for those of you interested in that, but life is too short to drive boring cars. You buy McLaren, because you want to feel something and become part of their great experiment. The 720S is what a modern supercar should look and feel like. It’s a marvellous showstopper!
As someone who has spent a lot of time in and around the SLR, I can find resemblances in every modern McLaren. Even the smell - I can recognise a McLaren with my eyes closed. But for that again you need to spend some time around McLarens.
I’m extremely happy that this brand will take me back to the UK to work on a few projects later this year. I already miss some bits of London and my life there. I worked at one point as a menswear designer in Mayfair and after work I turned into a car spotter in Belgravia and Knightsbridge. I never understood why people go there for the shopping instead of the cars. Bond Street is for the shopping, you go to Knightsbridge to have a taste of life. And exactly from a place like this - full of generosity, flamboyance, glamour, sex appeal, punk and brilliance, you can expect to create the SLR. The Brits are something else when it comes to building cars. They don’t have an analogy.
The reason I’m saying all of this? I want you to understand where I am coming from. The SLR was McLaren’s entry to the production cars. Yes, the F1 demonstrated what they’re capable of, but the SLR is their first full scale experiment. Even today, it’s still an unusual car. Understandable, the segment for such cars is tiny. Even today and maybe especially today - when the SUVs and EVs are changing the way we see cars. In short 70 years we went from pure excitement to 100% practicality. This is the reason why we’re obsessing over the modern classics - the car industry peaked (for now) in the early 2000s. The synchronicity of design, capability and functionality is unmatched and I believe it can't be replicated in the future. Cars were an influential part of pop culture.
Speaking of pop culture, I’m super excited about the Aventador’s successor. Lamborghini is one of the few brands that still manages to excite, even if you don’t own one. The latest and greatest V12 Lamborghini will always be the top echelon of the supercar world. A sad farewell to the Aventador as the V12 flagship, likely the last naturally-aspirated V12 ever, while we welcome it with open arms to the modern classics. The Aventador’s journey from rap videos to car collectors is something I’m looking forward to.