This is the McLaren P1. Officially, McLaren is calling the P1 a design study, with the final production version being shown next year.
In reality, the car that’s coming next year will probably look very much like this.
The P1 looks imposing in the photographs, but it’s actually little bigger than the current MP4-12C and is shorter than a Porsche 911.
The orange sections of the bodywork are the creation of McLaren’s design boss Frank Stephenson (who also did the Mini) and the matt black parts were shaped in McLaren’s wind tunnel.
McLaren says its car will only do around 239mph! Not fast enough to catch a Veyron, but it’s still pretty quick and will be devastatingly fast around a track.
Volkswagen may have made the Bugatti Veyron very speedy, but the German company doesn’t have the experience of McLaren when it comes to lapping a track quickly.
Like the MP4-12C, the P1 has a monocell carbon-fibre chassis using the same doorframe assembly as that car.
The outer panels are made from carbon fibre and the model will weigh under 1,300kg, which is amazingly light.
It’s likely that the P1 will feature an array of active aerodynamic details that will be automatically adjusted as speeds increase.
There’s a huge diffuser at the rear of the car and the pronounced flat bottoms of the sideskirts suggest that the P1 will sit down on its suspension at high speed so that more down-force will be generated.
Formula One is governed by technical rules, but that doesn’t apply to a road- going supercar, of course. So McLaren’s engineers can try out loads of ideas on the P1 that are banned in F1.
Take active suspension systems for example. The P1 could feature this and an active anti-roll system that virtually eradicates body roll as the car goes into a corner.
This, and the active aerodynamics, will mean the P1 will be untouchable on a racing circuit.
The P1 will use a tuned version of the MP4-12C’s twin-turbo 3.8 litre V8 that should produce something like 800bhp.
That will be boosted by an F1-like KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) that uses a pair of flywheels delivering up to 160bhp in short bursts, giving a total power output of 960bhp.
The KERS system will really help with acceleration away from the lights and we can expect the P1 to blast its way to 60mph in less than three seconds.
Word is that the car has already demolished the lap record at Silverstone for a road-going car.
The P1’s technology isn’t just limited to speeding around a track.
Apparently the windows are made of a type of acrylic, which repels water when it hits it, which means the P1 can do without windscreen wipers.
McLaren says it’s going to launch a new car every year between now and 2020. Only 500 P1s will be built.
