Lookout Emirates

McLaren Design Director Frank Stephenson with the P1 - his latest design achievement

The McLaren P1 is special because it ultimately achieves what it

Designing Auto Icons

McLaren's Design Director, Frank Stephenson, is fully aware that when it comes to car design, it's his duty to lead and not to follow trends. Ferrari F430, Mini Cooper, Fiat 500, Maserati MC12, BMW X5 his talent is crystal clear in his striking conquests. The designer extraordinaire talks to T Emirates about his career and latest delivery the McLaren P1.
By Orna Ballout

sets out to do be the best performing road car ever. Thats what the designer, Frank Stephenson, Design Director at McLaren, Britains famous Formula 1 racing brand, has to say about his best product design to date. The car appears fast because it is fast, looks light because it is light, and looks shaped by the wind because it is shaped by the wind. The rear wing is a special design feature that contributes to giving the P1 its huge amount of down force, over 600 kilos, and thats race car territory, he adds. Glass is featured prominently throughout, even above the drivers head, to allow maximum visibility; minimalistic interior design features provide just the right amount of information so as not to distract occupants but the headlamp is Stephensons favorite feature. While using the latest all-LED technology, its overall shape is inspired by the McLaren Speedmark, our logo. A certain amount of design freedom that didnt affect negatively on the performance or handling characteristics of the car was used to create the eyes of the car. As a design, they carry the DNA of McLaren, he says. While Stephenson prefers to be inspired by the sensuality of nature and the organic shapes linked to nature, if the P1 was a person, it would be compared to an athlete in top physical condition. The body of P1 is wrapped tightly against its powerful muscles, like a naturally developed bodybuilder with a very low BMI number. Coming up with fresh ideas is not a challenge for Stephenson. One thing Ive learned in my years of creating is never to fall in love with your work. Admire it and respect it, yes, but the moment you are completely satisfied and out of ideas on how to improve it is the moment you cease to be a true designer, he says.

44

T Emirates: The New York Times Style Magazine

Stephensons favorite feature, the headlamp, takes inspiration from the McLaren Speedmark, the brands logo.

Starting young Being behind the design of some of the most iconic cars is a profession many people can only dream about, but Frank Stephensons dream became a reality. However, this was no easy feat. Stephenson was one out of six of a group of thirty students who survived until the end of an intensive automotive design course. There are not many practicing car designers out in the field because too many would tend to either

One thing Ive learned in my years of creating is never to fall in love with your work. Admire it and respect it, yes, but the moment you are completely satisfied and out of ideas on how to improve it is the moment you cease to be a true designer."
dilute or confuse a companys design language, so the number of available positions in the real world remains relatively small. Stephenson became obsessed with cars when he was just 10. One Sunday morning, as he strolled through downtown Casablanca with his father, he recollects the first time he spotted a Jaguar E-type parked on Boulevard Mohamed V. It literally stopped me in my tracks - until my father had to finally drag me away - and I still remember the goose bumps that riveting experience gave me. The young car enthusiasts passion for cars evolved, and after graduating from high school, he fulfilled

another boys dream, competing at an international level in motocross. Although I was consistently in the top ten for four seasons, I never quite made it up to the podium, and thankfully my father had the vision to convince me, to put me on to another path and goal in life. He stood behind my choice of going to California to study Automotive Design and, if it wasnt for him believing in me, Id probably be working with current cars today instead of creating new cars for the future. Stephenson got his first break when he signed a contract with Ford Motor Company in 1986, and his ambition drove him to design for the top names in the industry. He joined McLaren in 2008, where he designed its latest product, the McLaren P1, acclaimed as the next generation of supercar that will probably cause anyone who sets eyes on it to drool at its stunning looks. Creativity unleashed Seeing a creative concept flourish into a fully functioning machine offers Stephenson comfort when he sits behind the wheel. Theres a tremendous feeling of warm familiarity that comes from having imagined it first within your mind and then the reality of physically going through the process of creating it. Because it comes from inside you, it feels as if part of your soul is somehow within the finished design and that results in a very personal and emotional bond. When the design devotee isnt busy brainstorming new concepts at the McLaren office in Woking, England (not many can say they love going to work in the morning and hate leaving in the evening), he enjoys time with his other passions: his wife Linda, his dog Sierra, quiet weekends cruising the River Thames together with friends on Riverbreeze, our beautiful slipper launch, early Sunday morning blasts along country back roads on my Ducati 1198 S, and traveling to exciting new places as often as possible. The contemplative moments are invariably accompanied by my love for a good cigar and a single malt.

Stephenson poses in between his sketching session

Issue 2, 2013

45