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McLaren and partner Mercedes-Benz are preparing to part ways on project SLR as production of the car is scheduled to stop in 2009. The marriage, brought together on and off the F1 race track, produced 261 SLRs in 2006, and 275 in 2007. These are not exactly the 400 – 500 a year figures that the makers were hoping for originally. The 467kW über two-seater’s exploits have been well documented, yet it never quite ignited the blaze its creators hoped it would.

McLaren is on course to start building their own supercar which is codenamed P11 for the year 2009. This is one of the reasons the Ferrari-McLaren saga continues to bite so deep; technologies learnt in F1 are often adapted for road cars by the manufactures concerned and for McLaren to learn so many Ferrari secrets is an endless sore point at Maranello.