Tag: McLaren P1

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McLaren

McLaren confirms P1 performance figures

McLaren P1

The first McLaren P1 was driven away by its proud owner at the end of September. Now, McLaren figures it’s time to publish the claimed performance stats for its latest and greatest hybrid hypercar.

If they chose, instead of a heap of numbers, McLaren could have simply said, “It’s bloody fast!”

Try these numbers on for size: the standing quarter mile is done in just 9.8 seconds and the P1 crosses the line at a staggering 245km/h. The 100km/h dash is dispensed with in a paltry 2.8 seconds, 200km/h in 6.8 seconds and 300 clicks will whiz by in 16.5 seconds—that’s 5.5 seconds faster than the legendary McLaren F1 road car.

When you’ve got 903hp to play with you may as well use it!

Production of the P1 will eventually max out at one car per day and the last of the 375 brutal sounding hypercars is scheduled to depart the McLaren Technology Centre in the middle of 2015.

The P1 looks like it will redefine a whole bunch of numbers. Although, given the recent sightings, a Nürburgring lap time is conspicuous by its absence in the press release below. Saving it for later, or is it not quite as quick as the Porsche 918?

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McLaren

McLaren P1 returns to chase Nürburgring glory

McLaren P1

McLaren is chasing lap record glory at the Nürburgring, with this P1 hypercar seen in full attack mode on the Nordschleife on Wednesday.

In early September a rumoured lap time of 7:04 was posted by the hybrid McLaren. Even if true, for two reasons, it’s not fast enough. Firstly, Ron Dennis has said the P1 will break the 7-minute barrier at the famous track. And secondly, Porsche has since published video of its 918 lapping the Ring in 6:57.

Officially, a McLaren spokesman said the ‘XP2R’ P1 was at the Green Hell, “for final damper tuning and calibration—our engineers and technicians are never happy, despite what they’ve achieved”.

However, those trackside during the week reported the presence of a sizeable pit crew with representatives from Pirelli on site as well. The P1 rides on specially developed Pirelli tyres tailored to suit the car’s performance and handling characteristics.

One thing is sure, the dick waving we’re going to see from Porsche, McLaren and Ferrari over who has the fastest hybrid hypercar on the planet is going to be fun to watch. So, strap yourself in and enjoy the show.

[Source: Car]

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Ferrari

LaFerrari latest hybrid hypercar to attack Nürburgring

LaFerrari

The 708kW LaFerrari is the latest in the triumverate of hybrid hypercars to attack the Nürburgring Nordschleife.

It joins the brief video we’ve seen of the McLaren P1, with a rumoured 7:04 lap time, and the apparently all-conquering Porsche 918 Spyder. Of course, the 918 grabbed headlines recently when Porsche announced it had broken the 7-minute barrier with a 6:57 lap time.

We shall have to wait and see what the Ferrari marketing department deems worthy of publishing in future to see if the 918’s time in the sun is about to be over.

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McLaren

McLaren P1 gets hot under the collar

McLaren P1 in hot weather testing

Leaving speculation over Nürburgring lap times aside for a moment, McLaren has touched base to bring us what’s likely to be their last update before the production-ready P1 hypercar is revealed in full. Indeed, the pics you see here are of a “production-intent” P1.

Earlier in the year McLaren told us about the cold weather testing the P1 had endured, now it’s all about thrashing the car through Arizona, California and Nevada in temperatures beyond 50°C. A mix of road and track testing was undertaken and we do hope Ron let the guys behind the wheel have the air conditioning on.

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McLaren

Rumour: McLaren P1 laps the Ring in 7:04

McLaren P1

A couple of weeks ago a McLaren P1 was seen circulating around the Nordschleife with a film crew in tow. The interwebz is now suggesting the P1 lapped the Ring in a very fast 7 minutes 4 seconds.

Of course, a 7:04 lap time is bloody quick, but it’s not the sub-7 minute time Ron Dennis has promised in the past. So is this rumour accurate, or is it a ruse to build up publicity before an official time is announced at next week’s Frankfurt Motor Show?

Unofficial lap times for “street-legal” cars

  • 6:48 – Radical SR8 LM (2009)
  • 6:55 – Radical SR8 (2005)
  • 7:11 – Gumpert Apollo Sport (2009)
  • 7:12 – Dodge Viper ACR (2009)
  • 7:14 – Lexus LFA Nürburgring Package (2011)

[Source: Bridge to Gantry & Piston Spy | Pic: Ring Bilder]

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McLaren

VIDEO: McLaren P1 hypercar sounds brutal

McLaren P1

A McLaren P1 was seen circulating around the Nürburgring Nordschleife earlier this week. RSR Nürburg, among others, was on hand to capture some brief video. And, erm, yeah, this P1 sounds bloody good.

A film crew was also on site, hinting at a possible bold lap record claim to be announced soon.

[Source: Bridge to Gantry | Pic: Ring Bilder]

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McLaren

Jenson Button talks about the Goodwood FoS

McLaren P1

The Goodwood Festival of Speed has become one of the landmark petrol head events on the global calendar. Jenson Button has been lucky enough to experience the FoS for 14 years in succession. In this video from McLaren Jenson talks a little bit about what makes Goodwood special. Oh yeah, he takes some random bloke for a drive up the hill in a P1 hypercar as well.

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McLaren

McLaren P1 “XP2R” spied at the Ring

McLaren P1 XP2R

This very tasty looking McLaren P1 was seen in testing at the Nürburgring recently. It looks like any old P1, but was carrying discrete XP2R badging. A more extreme version of the already extreme 908hp petrol-electric hybrid P1 perhaps?

No, apparently it’s just a bog standard P1 prototype. McLaren employs a strict lettering system for its test vehicles:

  • XP: Experimental prototype
  • VP: Validation prototype
  • PP: Pre-production protoype

Accordingly XP2R means the car pictured is an early prototype, the 2 means it’s the second XP model and the R denotes it is a revised spec.

That’s the official word from McLaren at least. Given some details of the P1 hypercar have already been released, including predicted performance figures, isn’t it a bit late to still be trundling around in an experimental test car so close to its expected launch?

What if that R actually meant something more? The niche sportscar maker wouldn’t like that its claimed performance numbers for the P1 are down on the equally impressive 963hp LaFerrari. So could the R indicate a new range-topping model to sit above the P1? If this is the case McLaren is unlikely to confirm as much when asked by inquisitive journos.

[Source: Autocar | Pic: PistonSpy]

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McLaren

McLaren P1 excels on ice

McLaren P1

McLaren is milking the launch of its P1 hypercar with great success. Already the car has premiered twice at the Paris (in concept form) and Geneva motor shows. And now, for our viewing pleasure, they’re showing a development mule being thrashed on a frozen lake in the Arctic Circle.

They say the P1 will be “the best driver’s car in the world on road and track.” To support that aim McLaren reckons the P1 will be the fastest ever production car around the Top Gear test track and it will be able to lap the Nürburgring Nordschleife in less than 7 minutes.

And, after watching this new video and its accompanying wallpaper-friendly images, we think you’ll agree the P1 actually looks half decent as well.

We’ll be seeing more of the P1 when at the Goodwood Festival of Speed (11–14 July). We just wish we were one of the lucky 375 folk to get their very own 916PS hybrid hypercar to play with.

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Ferrari Koenigsegg McLaren Pagani

Koenigsegg laughs at LaFerrari, McLaren P1 and Pagani Huayra

Koenigsegg Agera R

Koenigsegg reckons their Agera R, first shown in Geneva two years ago, still has what it takes to see off the latest hypercar challengers from Ferrari and McLaren.

Firstly, with 830kW (1115hp) available the Agera R has more power than the LaFerrari (708kW) or the P1 (675kW) and, crucially, at 1418kg with fluids they say it weighs less as well. The Huayra is lighter than the Agera R, just, but with a paltry 539kW on tap it’s little wonder Koenigsegg is having a wee chuckle.

Oh, and with a v-max of 420km/h the Agera R really does laugh at its competition, which are all wallowing in top speeds that start with a lowly three.

Koenigsegg is also confident it can see off any of its challengers at the track as well and on road tyres. Which is a not so subtle dig at Pagani who fitted its Huayra with specially made hand-cut slick tyres before handing it over to The Stig, who then set a new lap “record” around the Top Gear track.

Of course, the Agera R does hold a number of world records regarding acceleration and braking, so it’s no surprise they are so confident. All we need now is for someone to get all four cars in the one location and let them rip!

[Source: Cars UK]

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McLaren

VIDEO: McLaren P1 on the Top Gear track

McLaren P1

Sergio Perez has been parachuted into to full promo mode since his arrival at McLaren. First he was on hand in Geneva to help launch the P1 and now he’s the star in an unreasonably priced car driving around the Top Gear test track in Dunsfold, Surrey.

During the launch of the P1 in Geneva Ron Dennis claimed he lapped the Top Gear track 10 seconds faster than the lap record, which currently stands at 1:13.8 in the Pagani Huayra. If true, that means old Ron lapped in the 1:03s and you’d reckon one of his F1 mates could knock a few more seconds off that.

Remember many years ago when The Stig drove a Renault F1 car around the track? He did it in 59 seconds. So, on Ron’s figures, the P1 is within touching distance of a 2004-spec F1 car. Really?

Anyway, back to the video with Checo in the P1, sadly there’s no timing revealed, just some nice footage of the car in action with the appropriate script detailing all the good things about McLaren’s latest hypercar.

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McLaren Motor Shows

Geneva 2013: McLaren P1 revealed

McLaren P1

McLaren published info on its P1 hypercar well ahead of the Geneva Motor Show, but here is the video from the car’s presentation. The two key numbers to take away from this clip are 600kg of downforce and 2g cornering speeds. Although, perhaps the biggest claim is Ron Dennis’ bold statement that the P1 will lap the Nürburgring Nordschleife in sub-7 minutes.

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