Covers off on production Mclaren P1 in Geneva

The most electrifying British sports car marque Mclaren has set all the guns blazing when the production version of its hybrid supercar was broken covers at the Geneva Motor show. Quite a way to celebrate half-century of racing expertise, the Mclaren P1 inherits racing pedigree deep through its skin and underpins uncompromising levels of speed. Mclaren is not just a racing team but an inspirational act that sustaining in cash strapped F1 for this long is a vindication of its perseverance.

When Bruce Mclaren started it all in 1963 from scratch none would’ve believed they’d rise to the fame in Can-Am series in such a short-term and dominate Formula One from there on forever. After a heap of success, the storied outfit rushed onto the automotive scene with Gordon Murray’s finest creation, the Mclaren F1. The eight time F1 constructors’ champs and the home of twelve world champions shook the road when the road-going MP4-12C was based conceptually different.

The faster yet comfortable machine made Ferrari look dull on its complacency. The boundless battle rolled on and they met each other off-the-track this time on the stages of scintillating Geneva show.  Dubbed as P1, referring to the Pole Position, the car looked as good the same as we have seen in its global debut in Paris. Underneath, it bears the tweaked version of MP4-12C’s dry-sumped, 3.8 L Twin-turbo V8 producing a massive 727bhp and 531lb ft of Torque.

It’s obvious to say the car drew all its inspiration from F1 such as KERS  system, the energy recovery unit available at the push of a button generating 176bhp in addition which is twice as much power produced by a modern F1 unit. The turbos pressurise upto 2.4bar and accumulating all the numbers a whopping 903bhp and 664lb ft of torque is sent to the rear wheels and tamed by a seven speed, dual-clutch auto ‘box.

Moreover, the shrink-wrapped aero is originally designed to go racing in Le Mans and it’s evident from the beautifully sculpted tear-drop package. The rear of the car is intriguing with the F1’s very synonymous DRS wing which helps in cutting drag while cruising on high speeds and has dual wing elements. The pitch angle can be adjusted up to 29 deg instead of a moveable flap that extends by 120mm while cruising, and by 300mm in Race mode. The rear wing can also act as an airbrake when deployed.

Owing to this, 600kg of downforce pulls the car down as similar levels to 12C GT3 racer. Like the pioneering of MonoCell chassis design by incorporating single piece injection molding technique, a new innovation featuring here is the MonoCage. The safety cage structure which acts more of a clam-shell like with front and rear lightweight carbon fibre panels attached to it saving weight.

Mclaren found no need for anti roll bars as nitrogen-filled accumulators and hydraulic springs can do the stiffening trick as much in normal, sport, track and race modes. They do blast the ethics mind you as 2G lateral acceleration is said to be possible with this car.  The 0-62mph is dealt in under 3 seconds and 0-124mph in under seven seconds and 0-186mph takes 17 seconds, too much faster than Mclaren F1 had ever done. It goes all the way upto nerve wracking 217mph on a specially made Pirelli P-Zero Corsa tyres. Only 375 will make it to production costing $1.2 million. The P1 will go head-on battle with LAFerrari and 918 Spyder to claim the honours.