The new February 2012 issue of CAR Magazine leads on our exclusive inside story on the new McLaren P12 - Woking's spiritual successor to the F1.

We'll see the new hypercar within the next 12 months, but CAR has compiled a scoop dossier on the P12. Buy the new February issue to see the full set of three artist's impressions, compiled with the help of sources within McLaren who have seen the clay styling buck.
McLaren P12: the artist's impressions

The P12 looks 'like something out of iRobot,' according to our insider – way more dramatic than the supercar-by-numbers MP4-12C.

This is McLaren design chief Frank Stephenson's first clean-sheet design; he could only influence minor details on the 12C, like the front bumper. Hence the double-bubble roof and a canopy-style glasshouse which is said to dominate the front of the P12.
The tech powering the 800bhp McLaren P12

Our eight-page magazine feature reveals plenty of detail about the new McLaren supercar, codenamed P12. It follows in the footsteps of the P11, the project codename which begat the MP4-12C (and also comprehensively scooped by CAR Magazine – four years before it went on sale!).

The P12 will use a similar carbon Monocell structure as the MP4-12C, but with less budgetary restraint – the P12 will cost a reputed €750,000 – there is even more carbon in the bodyshell and structure, to trim weight to the absolute minimum.

The MP4-12C's 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8 will be used in the P12, but it will be paired with a KERS energy storage system to provide bursts of electric power for overtaking. Our story reveals how early styling mock-ups of the P12's cabin had F1-style pistol grip steering wheels with big red boost buttons to deploy the KERS overtaking boost.

Unlike the original F1, the P12 will have a two-seat cabin, this time; McLaren Automotive managing director Anthony Sherrif told CAR they experimented with a three-seat layout like before, but it messed with the dimensions too much.

McLaren Automotive will use its first ever international motor show appearance to preview its next generation ultimate supercar – the McLaren P1 – which takes much of its technological and spiritual inspiration from the company’s Racing division. The McLaren P1 has one simple goal: to be the best driver’s car in the world on road and track.

At the Paris Motor Show, Mondial de l'Automobile 2012, the McLaren P1 is previewed as a design study. Next year a production version, which the company aims to put on sale within 12 months, will be revealed.

‘The McLaren P1 will be the result of 50 years of racing and road car heritage,’ says McLaren Automotive Executive Chairman Ron Dennis. ‘Twenty years ago we raised the supercar performance bar with the McLaren F1 and our goal with the McLaren P1 is to redefine it once again.’

‘Our aim is not necessarily to be the fastest in absolute top speed but to be the quickest and most rewarding series production road car on a circuit,’ says McLaren Automotive Managing Director Antony Sheriff. ‘It is the true test of a supercar’s all round ability and a much more important technical statement. Our goal is to make the McLaren P1 the most exciting, most capable, most technologically advanced and most dynamically accomplished supercar ever made.’

When the McLaren P1 goes into production later next year, it will sit above the 12C and 12C Spider, in terms of both price and performance.

More information will be released following the McLaren Automotive press conference scheduled for 17.45 CEST (16.45 BST), on Thursday 27 September 2012.

McLaren Reveals More Details on Production P1 Supercar at Private Event


<small class="post-credits"> December 27, 2012 at 2:57 pm by Alexander Stoklosa </small>



McLaren recently held a private event in New York to show off its new P1 supercar, and the company snuck in a few new details about its F1 successor. The event was first covered by Carscoop, based on video of the New York event from YouTube user Speedracer38. Besides noting that the car at the private showing was “97 percent” production-spec, McLaren also elaborated on the P1′s fancy brakes, rear spoiler, and wheels, as well as a few minor cosmetic tweaks that will be implemented before the supercar goes on sale.
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• Comparison Test: McLaren MP4-12C vs. Ferrari 458 Italia, Porsche 911 GT2 RS
• Road Test: 1000 Miles in the McLaren MP4-12C
• Instrumented Test: 2012 Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4

<hr noshade="noshade"> The juiciest and coolest P1 fact extracted from this event pertains to the car’s brakes, which will incorporate carbon-fiber rotors co-developed with Akebono. McLaren says the technology is borrowed from F1 (Akebono furnishes McLaren’s F1 cars’ brakes) and is a production-car first; unlike the race cars, the P1 won’t use carbon-fiber brake pads, which take too long to warm up to be appropriate for street use. To amplify the curb appeal of the dark-colored brake rotors, McLaren polishes them to a mirror finish. Awesome. As for the P1′s active rear spoiler, we already knew it could be elevated up to 12 inches above the rear deck and tilt a maximum 29 degrees to increase drag and act as an air brake, but McLaren further elaborates that the wing will tilt in both directions. Because regular aluminum wheels would be so blasé, the P1 gets wheels rendered from what McLaren is calling “super aluminum,” which is as light as magnesium but more durable. Finally, the production P1 will gain additional vents in its front bumper just ahead of each front wheel to evacuate hot air from the front-mounted radiators. The mesh covering the car’s rear end will change to a tighter, finer variety that will showcase the car’s engine, rear suspension, and rear spoiler mechanism.

Look for the finalized production P1—and all of its sure-to-be-impressive specifications—to debut sometime early in 2013. Until then, check out the video from the New York reveal below:

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