Having been a designer for Ferrari, Maserati, BMW and now McLaren, Frank Stephenson knows a thing or two about sports cars. This larger-than-life American has been referred to as one of most influential car designers of our time having brought the world iconic models such the Mini Hatch, the BMW X5, the Ferrari FXX Super Enzo, the Ferrari F430, the Maserati MC12 Stradale and most recently, the McLaren P1.
When we first met Stephenson, it was obvious to see this was a highly creative man who never likes to sit still. Admirers of his work often ask where he gets his inspiration from — a question we couldn’t resist.
“The last thing I want to be accused of is not having a fresh idea,” he explained. “If you are working for a car company like McLaren it’s important that you cannot copy anything out there but to innovative. It has to be a better way all the time. Just to change for change’s sake is just fashion. When we do something new it has got to be either more efficient, improve performance or increase the safety.” Surprisingly, aesthetics and design are not the most important aspects of building a car according to Stephenson.
“We’re not designing the car from the onset to be beautiful. The beauty of the new generation of McLarens is a result of the performance of the car. We get performance targets from the aero engineers. We then have to envelope these with a shape, and an interior, that performs to those targets. And the beauty comes as a result of that. If the car feels right, it looks right. If it looks right, then it feels right.’’
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