Daily News: Wednesday 12/13/17

Last Unsold McLaren Senna Sold For Ayrton Senna Institute Charity

Every year, McLaren and the Ayrton Senna Institute hold a fundraiser for McLaren customers, in the pursuit of raising funds for underprivileged children and youngsters in Brazil, Senna’s home country. This years fundraiser recently concluded, with a surprise addition to the charity auction stealing headlines.

The last build allocation for the limited-to-500 McLaren Senna Ultimate Series track monster.

This addition, which was unannounced, caused quite the stir among the crowd–McLaren faithful all–who believed that the Senna had been totally spoken for. Bidding climbed higher and higher, with the final number topping out at roughly €2 million.

This sum, over three times more than the UK list price for the other 499 cars, will be used to aid young Brazilians and further progress Ayrton Senna’s good legacy.

Nissan Has a Mini, Toy-Sized Car Wash for Paint Control

Have you ever wondered how automakers simulate years and years of normal wear and abuse on your car? Well, today Nissan has opened a window into the world of long-term quality control testing, by detailing their 1:16th scale car wash at the Nissan Technical Center North America in Michigan.

Equipped with a blue bristle which spins at 180rpm, the popcorn maker-sized machine washes 1:16th scale model Nissans painted with OEM paint off of the line. Running them through the machine allows them to test the life and wear of the paint, while controlling the environment.

Often times the Nissan employees will add ‘Arizona Dirt’ as shown in the picture above, to mimic the WORST situations imaginable in the real world.

MINI Revises Logo for 2018

MINI, which was purchased by BMW in the early 2000’s, has sported the top logo on its cars for its entire time under BMW’s ownership. Now, for 2018, the brand is revising their logo down to the most minimalist elements, as shown in the below pattern.

Whereas the original ‘new’ logo was filled in with color and material, the new logo will feature a ‘hollow circle’ around the MINI logo, allowing the cars color to shine through.

I like it.

The new badge will begin appearing on all MINI models starting in March 2018.