McLaren P1 First Pics

First glimpse of the competition:

From Top Gear: http://www.topgear.com/uk/photos/first-pics-the-new-mclaren-p1-2012-09-18

Now the game's on . . .

 

first initial thought is why no center lock wheels?

 

Interesting how the styling of the MP4-12C kinda followed the Ferrari 360 (especially in the front), and now their new halo car is following the styling of the 458 (especially the cockpit and rear fender lines).

Are they always playing the follower, in the styling department?

 

Full pics and comments on the F70 thread, but to repeat myself I think a real disappointment. Over contrived, no purity of design and it just shows what a great job Peter Stevens did with the F1. I have no doubt it will be insanely fast, indeed it has already smashed the Silverstone production car record, but the looks just don't do it for me, I simply don't have a want on.

 

when the wind tunnel is your master....things start looking pretty similar....

 

Yup.

 

No center seating...Cant do it...

 

Wow! If it came out of Honda it would have been spectacular, but I think it is a big let down, considering the shoes it is supposed to fill. Looks like a big blob.

 

I just saw the car on Yahoo's front page.

I'm NOT impressed, it looks like garbage IMO. Now it may grow on me, but PLEASE GOD, I hope Ferrari doesn't go in that direction.

The F1 looks better IMO.

 

Dont like it.

 

I love it

 

anyone ever top speed tested a standard F1 and not one fettled by Mclaren. That original top speed run of 240 was done on a car where the rev limiter was disabled..at the very least

 

lots of discussion in P12 thread ( http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?p=141754369#post141754369 ) and the F70 thread

 

LOL true, all the manufaturers do some tweeking, especially for records, not just Ferrari!

 

Can't wait for Ferrari to unveil theirs.

 

What an ugly looking thing!

 

Bugg!! it s mac laren à ferarri super car?

 

No entiendo nada.

 

Actually McLaren quoted 340 km/h back then for the production cars. Then they went out with a 240 mph top-speed special that beared no resemblance to the production cars. I am guessing it had a crazy engine able to last only for a few miles, special tyres and the "gearing of the Space Shuttle". Ron Dennis, the master of spin!

 

Art

VMAX in a hypercar is mostly about cranking out downforce, tires and gearing.

Tires have to rated at that VMAX for the length of time that it could run flat out on the fuel it can carry. Getting a tire rated to an ultra high VMAX for road legal use is very costly and you have to really run at that speed and there is only one track in the world that VW owns where you can do it.

Ferrari P 4/5 by Pininfarina's VMAX is 233. It's higher than an Enzo's because due to taller tires it has a higher overall ratio. The safety of it's fitted tires at that VMAX was tested at CERAM test track and it's a very expensive process.

Moving on to fuel capacity. Tire manufactures would only certify the Veyron for 12 minutes of flat out so tank size is reduced more than would be optimum otherwise.

Before you can run VMAX in a Veyron you also have to switch over to Very low drag configuration and limit steering to 15 degrees.

VMAX means less than downforce on a race track and even less on the road. What matters is downforce at 120MPH. P 4/5 makes 2800 lb of downforce at 120MPH, LMP1's almost 4000lb but road cars make MUCH less. The numbers Ferrari quoted for the Enzo were NOT the ones we measured with our Enzo in a wind tunnel.

The P12 is very high downforce for a road car way beyond any here to fore. My guess is 1300lb at 120MPH.

At Silverstone I believe the P12 is 20 seconds a lap below the production car record, under 2 minutes just 30 seconds off an F1.

At the Ring (NS) my guess is just under 7 minutes on road tires.

 

Great post Jim, thanks


That P1 is scary ugly IMO

 

Did you have tires made to your specifications or did you choose an "off the rack" tire and have it tested at your VMAX? What tires do you run?

Very cool either way.

Thanks.

 

Looks fantastic.

 

That's a great explanation.

You know it would make me want a slower car! Why would you want to deal with the day to day nuisance of a smaller fuel tank and ridiculously priced, impossible to source tires for a feature on a car that is completely unattainable?

In the US, 0-60 remains one of the few tested parameters that can be regularly enjoyed on the road. Most high performance road tires offer similar (1g ish) grip, and none of the downforce is going to significantly alter handling at US speeds. So it's just back to the experience of the drive with the rest of it being "street cred".

 

First, I don't think people with a Veyron drive that car every day, so the gas tank size is probably not an issue. But yes, it would suck if I wanted to drive cross country with it. Like my dad used to say: "That car is so fast it passes everything on the road except the gas station."

Second, 99.9% of us never max out the top speed of our cars no matter what their capabilities. But, the increased power of a car that can attain such a high top speed also translates into quicker 0-60, 0-100, 0-150, 40-90, etc... times, which can be enjoyed quite easily.