It’s been nearly two years since McLaren 
unveiled the bonkers P1 supercar at the Geneva Motor Show, and I already lost count of how many tracks this hybrid monster has taken by storm as of February 2015. I do remember some cool videos of owners hooning their P1s at Laguna Seca and Spa Francorchamps, but the P1 is now familiar with just about every race track the world over. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. On the contrary, I love the way the P1’s twin-turbo V-8 roars under full throttle and the way the P1 acts like a full-fledged race car through the bends.
There is however, an instance when the P1 is as quiet as a Nissan Leaf. Yes, a supercar can sneak up on you when it’s in EV mode, a feat that’s also available to the Ferrari LaFerrari and the Porsche 918 Spyder. But the P1 has never been put on a track in full-electric mode. At least not until recently, as a three-minute video showing the supercar lapping the Top Gear test track on battery power only displays.
As you might expect, the run was far from setting a new lap record, but it shows the P1 can be fast without making use of its outstanding V-8 powerplant. Unfortunately, the camera shows only the car’s adjustable rear wing in the process, without the kind of footage we usually get with each Top Gear episode.
McLaren P1
