The McLaren P1 (codenamed P12)[1] is a flagship sports car produced by British marque McLaren Automotive. Styled by American car designer Frank Stephenson, it is the second installment in McLaren's Ultimate Series after the McLaren F1. Considered to be the spiritual successor to the F1, the P1 was one of the first high performance sports cars to be introduced incorporating hybrid technology; the Porsche 918 Spyder having begun taking orders prior to the P1 and the LaFerrari introduced alongside it. First shown as a concept on the 20th anniversary of the F1 at the 2012 Paris Motor Show,[6] the P1 made its debut at the 2013 Geneva International Motor Show.[7]
In similar fashion to the F1, the P1 is mid-engined, rear wheel drive, and has a carbon fibre monocoque. Stephenson drew inspiration for parts of the car from a sailfish he saw when on holiday in Miami.[8] In all, 375 units were produced, with several special editions such as the non-road legal P1 GTR and P1 LM among others having smaller production runs. Several pre-production prototypes utilised by McLaren for testing were later refurbished, modified and sold to customers.[9][10]
Background
Following the conclusion of McLaren F1 production in 1998, McLaren Automotive (then McLaren Cars) became dormant until 2010.[11] The McLaren 12C was McLaren's first production car following the F1, introduced in 2011.[12] With the 12C in production, McLaren announced in a press release in 2011 that a new factory (the McLaren Production Centre) had opened to ramp up production. Mentioned in the same press release were plans for several "game-changing high performance cars".[13] British automotive magazine Autocar reported earlier in the year that a new flagship model, internally designated the "Mega Mac", was under development, with production set to be limited to 500 units.[14]
Specifications
The P1 features a 3799 cc twin-turbocharged V8 engine.[21] The twin turbos boost the petrol engine at 1.4 bar to deliver 737 PS at 7,500 rpm and 531 lbft of torque at 4,000 rpm, combined with an in-house-developed electric motor producing 179 PS and 192 lbft of torque. The motor is the McLaren M838TQ The electric motor and the petrol engine in the P1, produce a combined power output of 916 PS and 900 Nm of torque.[22] The electric motor can be deployed manually by the driver or left in automatic mode, whereby the car's ECUs 'torque fill' the gaps in the petrol engine's output, which is considered turbo lag. This gives the powertrain an effective powerband of almost 7,000 rpm.[23] The car has rear mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout and is equipped with a 7-speed dual-clutch transmission developed by Graziano Trasmissioni.[1]
Production
In August 2013 McLaren announced that the production allocation destined to the Americas, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East was sold out.[35] The cars destined for Europe were sold out by mid November 2013.[36] The United States accounted for 34% of the limited production run, and Europe for 26%.[37]
After some delays, production began in October 2013.[38] Hand-assembled by a team of 61 engineers, at a production rate of one car per day McLaren production was planned for fifty cars by the end of 2013.[39] The first delivery to a retail customer took place at the company's headquarters in Woking, England, in October 2013,[7]
Variants
P1 GTR (2015–2016)
Celebrating 20 years since their victory in the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans, McLaren announced that they would resurrect the GTR name by launching a track-only version of the P1, the P1 GTR.
The P1 GTR was initially only available to P1 owners. The concept car made its debut at the 2014 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in August 2014. The P1 GTR production model was officially unveiled at the 2015 Geneva Motor Show.[42][43] This price includes a worldwide owners track day series; later cars were offered for less money, for those P1 owners who had no interest in the track series but still wanted to purchase the GTR variant. In total 58 cars were made.[44]
The P1 GTR went into production in 2015, after all the 375 standard P1s had been built, as a homage to its race-winning ancestor, the McLaren F1 GTR
Legacy
McLaren announced a sub-seven minute lap of the Nürburgring, which equates to an average speed in excess of 179 km/h, but did not publish the exact time.[61][62] However, the P1 LM, which wasn't road legal during the run, beat the road car's record time at the Nordschleife with a time of 6:43.22.
Marketing
Mattel's Hot Wheels 1:64 die-cast P1 model car in Volcano Orange and Supernova Silver body, Lego Speed Champions series Volcano Yellow McLaren P1 model kit,[63] Scalextric Volcano Yellow and Volcano Orange P1 slot car, Maisto radio-controlled 1:14 scale McLaren P1, Minichamps and Tecnomodel 1:43 P1 model car, Amalgam Fine Model Cars 1:8 scale McLaren P1[64][65] went on sale in 2015.[66][67]
See also
- List of production cars by power output
- Plug-in electric vehicle
- Plug-in electric vehicles in the United Kingdom
- Government incentives for plug-in electric vehicles
- List of modern production plug-in electric vehicles
External links
References
- K.C. Colwell. Ten Things You Probably Didn't Know—And Neither Did We—About McLaren's P1 Car and Driver, 14 May 2023, retrieved 3 June 2024^
- Gautam Sharma. McLaren P1 performance figures announced carsales, 23 October 2013, retrieved 3 June 2024^
- Carlos Lago. McLaren P1: How I Set The Motor Trend Production-Car Record