It’s the first time the McLaren Automotive Group has ever appeared at an international motor show and they’ve done it with suitable fanfare with the unveiling of their McLaren P1 supercar.
Still classified as a design study, the new car will be launched in late 2013, but for now McLaren have said that more than 95 percent of what we see here will be retained in the car’s final production.
The body of the McLaren P1 is made from carbon fibre panels that are “extraordinarily thin” and have been molded into larger sections. The rear wing can be automatically adjusted by up to 300 mm while on a racetrack and by up to 120 mm while driving on the road. In total, the McLaren P1 boasts 600 kg of downforce, the highest among current road cars and five times more than the MP4-12C. The P1 also has an aerodynamic drag coefficient of 0.34.
It’s still unknown what will power the new P1, but the smart money is on an uprated version of McLaren’s twin-turbocharged 3.8-litre engine found in the MP4-12C. A brake energy regeneration system is also expected to be included, which will provide additional power for bursts of acceleration. The total power output could be more than 600 kW, which could give the P1 a sub-3 second 0 – 100 km/h sprint time and a top speed in excess of 380 km/h.
A price tag of £800 000 has been bandied about, the only consolation for which is that the Bugatti Veyron maybe rendered slower and more expensive once the McLaren P1 has launched.
