First Drive Review
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High Street theater.
I do not normally cackle. I am not, by nature, a cackler. I trust you have seen plenty of cacklers in various automotive videos and on television programs. You know the shot: It’s the in-car view of the host when he lays into the throttle for the first time and begins whooping and hollering and, yes, cackling about the stunning, life-changing thrust of whatever it is he happens to be piloting. Lesser hosts always appear disingenuous doing this, as if they’re artificially amping up the excitement level.
But were a video camera in the car with me when I first unleashed the full 903 horsepower of the McLaren P1, the audio would have gone something like this: [cackle] [cackle] Holy [bleep]! That’s . . . [cackle] I, uh . . . wow. [cackle] It was about then that my co-driver reminded me of the pending end of the airport runway we were on and the imminent braking zone, which I was now crowding at something like 135 mph. I would tell you the exact speed, but, honestly, I haven’t a clue what it was. I never thought to look down at the speedometer. I was, by then, a speed-drunk sack of cortisol and adrenaline with, I’m guessing, wildly dilated pupils. It wasn’t until much later that remorse would overwhelm me for having used hyperbole in describing other fast cars I’ve driven. I wasted all the superlatives on cars that I now know were unworthy. The P1, McLaren’s successor to the storied F1 road car, is in some ways, unlike any car I’d driven before.
The P1 will sprint to 60 mph in 2.6 seconds and continue pulling hard until it reaches its governed top speed of 217 mph. But as impressive as those numbers are, they are not unprecedented in the world of supercars. Hell, a Porsche 911 Turbo will get to 60 mph in about the same amount of time and the iconic McLaren F1 achieved a top speed about 20 mph higher back in the ’90s. What’s so remarkable about the P1, of which 375 will be made, is its ability to corral a 727-hp twin-turbo V-8, a 177-hp electric motor fed by a lithium-ion battery pack, and a mass of power electronics into a cohesive whole, and one that manages to deliver a uniquely extreme speed experience so smoothly and easily.
READ MORE: McLaren P1 Hypercar Laps Nürburgring in Under Seven Minutes
Do not take that to mean that the car is without drama. It is all drama. Lift off the throttle on turn-in to a corner and the turbo boost relieves itself with an initially shocking, “WOOF!” You hear air howling as it’s sucked into the roof-snorkel and on to meet its fate in the eight combustion chambers. You hear the low-register rage of the engine, which, even at idle, is incomparably loud for a street car. Pebbles kicked up from the surface make a ping when they hit the carbon-fiber wheel wells and underside with the crack and clarity of a rifle report. Even when left in automatic mode, the seven-speed dual-clutch transmission pounds through the gears, firm and certain, and a couple of milliseconds before you think about shifting. Oh, and it spits blue flames out its exhaust pipe.
But there is no perceptible change of pace when the big turbos get to spinning in earnest. You do not notice the 177-horse electric motor at work. (It’s a somewhat detuned version of the electric motor planned for Formula E electric open-wheel racers.) There is just smooth, seamless, seemingly inexhaustible thrust. Any fears that a hybrid hypercar would diminish the enjoyment have been proven, in our minds, to be unfounded—at least in the McLaren P1.
While you can drive the P1 for a claimed six or so miles on pure electric, the real purpose of the block-mounted motor is to smooth the power-delivery characteristics of the gasoline engine. McLaren started with a strengthened version of the 3.8-liter V-8 that powers the 12C/650S models. Strapped with bigger turbos, and running a healthy 20.3 pounds of boost, the P1’s gas engine provides plenty enough propulsion. Each of the engine’s 727 horsepower is tasked with moving only 4.5 pounds of P1, which has an estimated curb weight of 3300 pounds. For perspective, a Lamborghini Aventador saddles each of its horses with 5.9 pounds. And that’s before you add the McLaren’s electric motor to the mix.
READ MORE: 10 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About the McLaren P1
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