You can have your fancy pants limited-edition Lambo, or your stonking new LaFerrari, even the McLaren P1; we’re not really interested. The car of Geneva, for us, is the Porsche 911 GT3. That’s the one we’d like to take home and get intimate with. And so begins the second and final part of our Geneva Motor Show image gallery. There’s over 120 new images to see and enjoy.
McLaren has released more information on its P1 hypercar and, while we reckon they might have a few finer details up their sleeve for Geneva, this is as close to the full reveal as we’re going to get, we think.
The P1 will be limited to 375 examples and will priced at £866,000 all in, no more to pay. What a bargain! At around €1 million that price puts the P1 line ball with the expected asking price for the Ferrari F150.
In true McLaren form they have been very clinical in describing the speed of the P1. To quote the official press release: “Instant Power Assist System (IPAS) provides astonishing acceleration: 0 to 300 km/h takes less than 17 seconds, more than 23 per cent faster than the legendary McLaren F1.”
Actually, when you stop and consider those numbers, the P1 will be astonishingly quick. Here’s some more numbers to back that up:
All that pace is achieved thanks to the 903hp offered by the 3.8 litre twin turbo V8 and electric motor, which McLaren detailed a few days ago.
Grip is provided by specially developed Pirelli P Corsa Zero tyres. Stopping power comes courtesy of Akebono, McLaren’s F1 partner, and includes unique carbon ceramic discs, which McLaren claim have never been used on a production car before.
Visually the only major difference between the car you see above and the concept shown in Paris last year is the paint colour. According to McLaren the only other change of note is the addition of some cooling ducts ahead of the front wheels. Which kind of makes a mockery of the prototypes being driven around in full camo attire.
We expect there’ll be a full press kit made available after Geneva kicks off, if so we’ll bring it to you as soon as we’re able. Until then we’ve got a handful of new pics waiting for you after the break.
Ooh, it’s so exciting. The McLaren versus Ferrari road car bitch fight is going to be epic to watch.
Earlier today we brought word the forthcoming Ferrari F150 will be bloody expensive, bloody powerful and bloody exclusive. Now, we can fill you in on some details of the McLaren P1. Like the F150 it uses a hybrid system and all told the P1’s oily and electrical bits combine to produce 903bhp (916PS or 673kW).
How do the McLaren boffins do it? Well we’re glad you asked. The magic of two turbos helps to give the 3.8 litre V8 petrol engine 727bhp, while the lightweight electric motor provides a further 176bhp. All told there is 900Nm of torque to play with as well, 260Nm of that is available instantly thanks to the electric motor.
Of course, we’re not allowed to call it just an electric motor—Ron wouldn’t be so plain—rather we must refer to it as the Instant Power Assist System. It has its own steering wheel button. Also on the wheel is a DRS button which has been inspired by its F1 namesake and reduces drag by 23%.
As you can see from the image above the battery pack for IPAS is mounted forward of the engine. It weighs 96kg and is enveloped by the P1’s carbon fibre MonoCage chassis, helping McLaren keep the system’s overall weight to a minimum.
It looks like we’ll be getting at least one more official P1 update from McLaren before the car makes its full debut in Geneva early next month.
McLaren still hasn’t released any firm performance specifications for its P1 hypercar, but it has released a stunning set of images photographed on the Bahrain International Circuit. And here they are!
The P1 was launched to select clients in Bahrain last month and later this week it will be the turn of the well to do in Dubai who get the fancy canapés and to ooh and ahh at McLaren’s latest creation.
“After a successful launch in Bahrain, we are very excited to be bringing the McLaren P1â„¢ to the United Arab Emirates, where our retail partner, Al Habtoor Motors, has confirmed huge interest in this unique car,” said Mark Harrison, McLaren Automotive Regional Director for the Middle East and Africa.
“This year marks our 50th year anniversary, so it is apt that we are gearing up to launch a car that we feel will redefine the parameters for performance, on both circuit and road. This is why we have released these unique and stunning images, taken at the BIC, a location absolutely fitting for this supercar.â€
World Car Fans brings us a good video showing the McLaren P1 hypercar out and about undergoing some testing. Given we’ve already been given a good look at the exterior of the car at the Paris Motor Show we can probably surmise that there’s some minor changes to the bodywork disguised in all the camouflage.
The video also shows a very brief glimpse of the interior. We get to hear the engine rumble along at leisurely pace as well as seeing the scissor door in action.
Make sure you watch to the end, too, where you’ll see the driver do his best Kimi Raikkonen off-track impression.
[Source: WCF]
Here we bring you some videos of the epic McLaren P1 from the floor of the Paris Motor Show. We expect McLaren will nail the objectives they have for this car, which is to pretty much redefine the hypercar market. Sure, it probably match the outright performance of the Bugatti Veyron, but as a useable road/track tool, this car will have few peers, if any.
McLaren Automotive promised us they would reveal the P1 at the Paris Motor Show. And they have, look at it. It’s spectacular, it looks bloody fast and it has presence. We love it!
You: I agree it looks awesome, but we already saw pics the other day. How much power does it have? How fast is it?
Us: Dunno. They haven’t said.
That’s right, all the build up, all the hype and all we can give you about the world’s latest and greatest hypercar is more hype! And motherhood statements. We’ve got heaps of motherhood statements:
“Of course, the McLaren P1 will have an immensely powerful engine, superb brakes and state of the art suspension controls.”
Paul Mackenzie, Programme Director
“It celebrates aerodynamics, great packaging and light weight. It is all about innovative technology. At the very beginning, we sought to develop a car that you could drive to a racing circuit, then press a button and race it.
“Maximum speed was never a priority. It’s much more technically challenging, and more meaningful, to develop a car that seeks to be the fastest-ever series production car on a racing circuit.”
Dan Parry-Williams, Chief Design Engineer
“It would have a level of racetrack performance never before seen in a series production road car.”
Simon Lacey, Head of Vehicle Technology
“I wanted it to look like a Le Mans racer with that low body, long rear deck and open mesh rear styling to put the mechanicals on view and to help cooling.”
Frank Stephenson, Design Director
So, aside from a promise that the P1 will have a power-to-weight ratio of at least 600PS per tonne we can’t really give you any firm details. McLaren says all the tech data will be released when the P1 is launched early next year. Initial deliveries are scheduled for late 2013.
If you want to read a bunch of McLaren employees claiming their car will be the best thing since ever, then read the presser after the break. Oh, actually, read the stuff about the MonoCage body shell, that’s pretty good.
This is the McLaren P1 and it’s here to make a statement! “The McLaren P1 has one simple goal: to be the best driver’s car in the world on road and track,” reads the press statement below.
In one fell swoop McLaren has quickly put to rest any criticism that its designers played it too safe with the MP4-12C. It’s now clear that was just the entrée. The main course is the P1 and its KERS-enhanced drivetrain, ranging anywhere from 800–960hp, depending on who you listen to.
Previously referred to as the MP4-P12 or 24C, the boldly named P1 is McLaren’s 21st century sequel to the all-conquering F1 road car. At this stage we’ve only got these three studio photos to go on; there’s not even a hint as to the car’s official performance specs. We’ll have to wait for the P1’s unveiling on 27 September.
So far, though, we like what we see! And we have sat back and taken notice of these ambitious words from Ron Dennis: “The McLaren P1 will be the result of 50 years of racing and road car heritage. Twenty years ago we raised the supercar performance bar with the McLaren F1 and our goal with the McLaren P1 is to redefine it once again.”