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The successor to the F1 finally arrives.
Is the McLaren MP4-12C too restrained for your Lambo-nurtured design tastes? McLaren’s upcoming range topper, the P1 supercar, looks like a cyborg Gaboon viper, and it will debut at this year’s Paris auto show.
For now, this P1 is just a “design study,” with details subject to change between now and the start of sales in about a year. The roof-mounted intake inspired by the sanctified F1 and the McLaren logo–shaped headlights are likely to stay, and the mid-mounted V-8 engine is a certainty.
“WHAT,” an aghast reader asks, “is with the V-8 in a car meant to rival 12-cylinder Ferraris and Lamborghinis?” McLaren’s V-8 engine was developed entirely in-house, and uses its own block and architecture. Earlier this year, the company’s head of vehicle development Geoff Grose told us the V-8 is meant to be the centerpiece of more than just one car. Don’t worry about power; the MP4-12C’s version of this twin-turbocharged engine already makes 618 hp. (By the way, anyone remember how much power the F1 made? 618 on the nose.)
Other details we’ve gleaned from McLaren about the P1: Unlike the F1, the new P1 will seat two people, not three, and in conventional side-by-side positions. Doors will be of the crowd-stunner variety, lifting up and out like on the MP4-12C. McLaren has a carbon-fiber factory on site, so expect the lightweight material to be used everywhere on the P1, and for everything.
We expect more information and specs for the P1 on September 27.
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