*Sort of. 720S prototype features cockpit layout for McLaren's hyper GT

Look closely at this McLaren 720S. Notice something unusual? That’s right, it has a central driving position. You know what this means – it’s a mule of the BP23 hyper GT.

Now don’t get too excited and assume I’ve driven a disguised BP23. I haven’t. I’ve driven a 720S with the steering wheel in the wrong place. First deliveries of the BP23, the fastest, most powerful and most aerodynamic road-going McLaren ever, won’t take place until late 2019, and the theme of the interior was only finalised a few months ago.

This car has been on the road just a couple of weeks. In fact, it’s the very first mule of the BP23 McLaren has built – powertrain prototypes won’t commence testing until later this year.

You don’t need me to tell you that shuffling the driver into the centre of the car is a tricky job. McLaren had to modify the Monocage II carbon tub, as the central spine of the standard 720S carries the coolant pipes and wiring. They now have a flat floor all the way across.

The BP23 itself will use a bespoke, albeit similar, version of this carbon structure, but McLaren is coy about giving away many details at present. We know it’ll be hybrid, aimed more at road than track, have a slippery body and be McLaren’s most powerful and fastest car ever – but they haven’t defined that explicitly.

The comparison and relation to the McLaren F1 is unavoidable. That car had the same three-seat layout – centre forward and two flankers to convolute a couple of sports references – but also put the driver between two semi-structural spines (gearlever on the right, handbrake on the left) that carried many functions and were a pain to negotiate. The plan is for the BP23 to be easier to use. Faster, too? I’ll come back to that later.

So what job is this prototype doing? Here’s vehicle line director for McLaren’s Ultimate Series, Andy Palmer: “We’ve done a lot of work around CAD and ergonomics before we even think about building a prototype. At this stage essentially we’re looking at ergonomics, layout of controls, visibility, access, packaging, the rear view mirrors, but also where you put the vents, what storage we can have and so on.”

I peer inside. The seat looks familiar. “We found an original touring seat from a McLaren F1, scanned it, got it made up, put on foams and trimmed it”, Andy tells me. “It’s not what we’re going to run with – I think it’s likely we’ll do individual seat fittings for owners, but its position in the car is right”.

I have a few stabs at getting in. This is a critical area, and possibly the most challenging aspect of owning the car for many buyers. Chief test driver Chris Goodwin tells me that when he was racing the F1 at Le Mans, fellow driver JJ Lehto, an ex-gymnast, used to be able to fling himself straight into the car in one movement, legs into footwell, backside into seat.

Given this is a hyper GT, I’m going for something a little more dignified. “We’ve got a buck and we’ve had people get in so many different ways,” Andy says, “sitting in then swinging their legs around, going in head first…”

My technique is to settle on the lip of the outer seat, and then using the door aperture for lift and leverage, post myself across and forwards. The open floor gives you footspace, but it still takes me half a dozen attempts before I reckon I’m happy with a technique.

And once settled in the seat I can only barely reach to pull the door down. I reckon the production BP23 (it stands for Bespoke Prototype 2, with 3 seats. BP1 was the 12C-based McLaren X-1) is likely to have electric doors.

The feeling once you’re in is utterly different to a 720S. Leaving aside the butchered instruments and skeletal layout, the first thing that strikes you is the symmetry, with the steering wheel as the focal point of everything, then, perhaps oddly, it’s the shape of the side windows. Here, instead of feeling like you have three separate outward aspects (windscreen and side windows) it feels like one panoramic view. I find myself wondering about sun visors, seatbelts and cupholders…

“We will have two cupholders, and three inertia reel seatbelts”, Palmer says. Mounted on top of each side mirror are extra housings containing rear -view cameras – it’s a solution that would reduce drag and improve side visibility. The original F1 prototype had mirrors mounted high up on the A-pillars, so I wouldn’t be surprised if BP23 went for a similar arrangement. Palmer expects they’ll end up mounting the internal screens lower.

It’s amazing how quickly you adapt to the central position. Ten minutes of crawling around the perimeter roads and car parks of Dunsfold’s industrial park and I’m happy. Initially you do keep having to correct your road position and remind yourself to stay central in the lane or you find yourself subconsciously drifting right to line yourself up in the normal place. Similarly you find yourself giving a wide berth to kerbs at junctions as you get used to the sensation.

But then it feels so natural, a far better place to experience the movements and sensation that driving delivers. I’ve never driven a McLaren F1, so the only similar thing I’ve got to compare it to is a BAC Mono. Like that, this comes across as a pure and dedicated driving machine because it literally puts the driver front and centre.

I barely even noticed the infotainment screen – it feels less of a distraction when your eye is drawn more to a focal point outside. And that’s it, as the driver you feel you’re the focus of the car, at the point of things. It’s by no means perfect just yet – you really notice the pedal offset when everything else is so in-line, and the windscreen still has all the sensors centre-top.

The plan is to keep all buttons off the steering wheel, to minimise distraction and concentrate on the driving. I think it’s going to be superb, the sensation of being sat centrally when however much horsepower kicks you into hyperspace. £2million well spent for the 106 owners.

McLaren won’t talk tech, so let’s go for a bit of speculation. It’s a GT, so I don’t think McLaren will be too precious about retaining rear-wheel drive. So I’d have a pair of e-motors up front and internal combustion at the back, perhaps aided by a third motor for torque fill duties. This arrangement is common enough – the Honda NSX uses it, the Porsche 918 and BMW i8 aren’t dissimilar either.

Still a twin-turbo V8? I’d love to say it’ll have a bespoke V12 a la F1, but given the maximum possible income this project can generate, I’d expect it to run a very trick version of the V8, perhaps larger capacity and maybe about 850bhp – when the P1 came out its 737bhp V8 output was around 150bhp up on the 12C, so why not similar gains over a 720S this time round? Mate that to 250bhp of electric shove and you’ve got 1,100bhp pushing along maybe 1,650kg. That would be 666bhp-per-tonne, which sounds… evil.

That should also make it the fastest McLaren off the line ever – and probably over all increments up to and beyond 200mph. But how far will McLaren go with son-of-F1? All the way to 240mph? Beyond? Palmer was interesting on this. They’ll be working with Pirelli as sole tyre supplier and according to Palmer, “we need to balance top speed against driver comfort”. Above 217mph, the tyre sidewalls have to be so stiff you risk compromising BP23’s luxury and comfort aspects.

I don’t think they’re off to chase Bugatti – that’s a dead-end street with a Chiron-sized road block in it. But surely 240mph must be tempting. So maybe one of the options might be a high-speed pack with different wheels/tyres and a 250mph top end?

The rumour mill suggests McLaren’s Vision Gran Turismo is a digital BP23 in all but name, but aside from big numbers I can’t see any relationship. BP23’s stated aim, according to Andy Palmer, is “to carry three people a long way with luggage and in luxury”. The ultimate continent crusher, so much as that role exists any more.

Will you be able to drive it purely on electric? Will it be plug-in or induction charged? McLaren won’t be drawn on battery tech, nor even on how the luggage is going to be stowed. Let’s hope for F1-style side pods. When will we see it for the first time? I’d anticipate late next year. In the meantime keep your eyes peeled – the majority of BP23 development is taking place on public roads. Next time you see a camo-clad supercar, have a look at where the driver is sat…

We’ve been calling it by its project name BP23. We’ve been thinking about it as the three-seat successor to the McLaren F1. But now know it by its official name: McLaren Speedtail, and this is possibly because McLaren has run out of other names to give it.

McLaren justified the name with the following explanation: “Name evocative of a peak speed higher than any McLaren yet and flowing, highly streamlined design.”

Apparently the company is gunning for a higher top speed than the F1's 243 mph, which is kind of funny, since the original F1 famously never attempted to set a high top speed it just kind of fell into it by way of filling out its actual design brief, to be as unfiltered and perfect a driver’s car as conceivably possible. Oh wait, we knew that already. Nevermind.

McLaren is calling it a “Hyper-GT” and says it will be the most luxurious McLaren ever. I am very much intrigued. We’ll see it at Geneva, after the 106 people who have reserved it, then leak photos of it online from their Blackberries.

McLaren boss Mike Flewitt has confirmed to TopGear.com that the upcoming new Speedtail hypercar will produce more than 987bhp.

Speaking at a McLaren owners’ event, he noted how the three-seat hypercar (previously known as BP23), will use the familiar McLaren engine architecture, meaning the twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8. “That architecture has gone from 426bhp in a GT4 to I-can’t-tell-you-what-yet in a Speedtail.

“But it’s more than 1,000PS [987bhp],” he added. He noted how the engine has already been hybridised in the P1, and that for the Speedtail, “we’ve got a slightly different hybrid application”.

“What we focus on are attributes rather than engines,” he said. “I remember when we launched P1, people said we should have had a V12. That kind of missed the point – for us it was about what it did, and the character that comes out of it.”

We know that the Speedtail will be the fastest McLaren ever, with a top speed well north of 243mph. That puts it comfortably ahead of perhaps the most famous McLaren of them all, the F1.

But does Flewitt see the Speedtail’s role as gunning for the likes of Koenigsegg and Hennessey for outright top speed honours? Erm, not really.

“We’re not going for top speed for the sake of top speed,” he said. “I spoke to my friend John Hennessey – he had his Venom F5 engine on a stand [at Monterey’s car week] – and he’s going for 300mph. I might come out with John and take the opportunity to do a high speed run with our car, but we’re not chasing a top speed for the sake of it.”

Why not? “The car is more rounded than that, and there’s more to it than just top speed. Some of those guys are going to be putting out 1,500bhp to 1,600bhp, and we’re not going to be there.”

He did note how the Speedtail will be lighter and aerodynamic, and a “better driving proposition”, a car you’d be able to comfortably take on a 2,000-mile tour.

“It’ll be super comfortable, super to drive,” Flewitt said. “It has an amazing top speed, but that’s a result of the engineering that’s gone into the car, not a target of the car.

“It was never a target. We’ve got simulations that tell us what it is, but we haven’t proven them yet.”

He did however, wish both Koenigsegg and Hennessey good luck for their upcoming bout. “I’m a big fan of John’s, and of Christian [von Koenigsegg] – he’s a great engineer.”

Mercedes-AMG has forbidden owners to sell Project One build slots, and Aston Martin has done the same with the Valkyrie.

Ford obliged them by contract to keep the GT in their possession for a determined period of time, something like 2 years as we learned from the John Cena debacle, and Ferrari is doing something similar for its ultra exclusive models. McLaren, however, hasn’t announced anything similar.

Thus, an exotic car dealer is already selling a build slot for the upcoming Speedtail. The ad can be found here and doesn’t give out any details about the exotic model. They do say that the deal will be sealed with a “lawyer to lawyer non-disclosure agreement (NDA)”, though, and that the asking price is available upon request.

Purchasing the alleged build slot would require paying a very steep sum, given that the British automaker initially asked £1.6 million ($2.1 million) for the Speedtail in the United Kingdom, tax excluded – and the seller will be looking to make a hefty premium, of course…

The McLaren Speedtail will be unveiled later this year, with a central driving position, hybrid powertrain, F1 technology and hypercar performance. It will be limited to 106 examples, just like the iconic McLaren F1, but before its premiere it will be previewed in front of customers who have already paid a deposit during a private event. Production will commence at the end of 2019, so the first units should be delivered in 2020.

The reveal of the McLaren Speedtail is less than two weeks away, and McLaren's likely entering Peak Tease phase. Based on this latest tease, what we know now is that the spiritual successor to the F1 will not play timid with the "tail" part of its name. A long, un-spoilered aft section would seem to indicate this is where the party will happen on what McLaren has called "a stunning, streamlined form."

The only features visible on the deck are three sets of shutlines. Two at opposite ends along the trailing edge we'll guess are combination active spoilers and brakes. Then there's a long, thin, central shutline that runs from the lower edge of the backlight or engine cover to about six inches from the car's trailing edge. We don't have a clue as to what this flap might do, or what it might open up to. We do see similarities in the overall shape with the Senna, though; get rid of the Senna's spoiler, and level the rear fenders with the engine cover, and you've got a good approximation of this Speedtail teaser.

A glaring omission from the panels in the tease: exhaust outlets. No ports point upward as on the Senna, nor plainly out the back as on the P1 and F1. Blown diffuser, perhaps? Looks like owners will need to buy a 600LT if they want to put on a fireworks show or grill some burgers backside.

McLaren has invited everyone to join the company on Oct. 26, at 13:00 British Standard Time, to watch the Speedtail unveil. Since all 106 examples of the hybrid-engined three-seater with at least 986 horsepower have already been sold, that will probably be your easiest and best way to catch a glimpse.

Upon learning of the McLaren Speedtail’s flexible carbon fiber rear ailerons, I shot off a couple of emails to McLaren to learn more about how and why its engineers pulled this off. Here’s what I learned.

The first question I asked in the brief email interview is how McLaren was able to get the carbon fiber so flexible, whether the “unique carbon fibre and titanium weave” used in the car helped in any way, and if the setup required any special resin. Director of Engineering Design Dan Parry-Williams told me that, really, the pliability just came down to geometry.

“We developed the shape, thickness and carbon ply orientation to provide the right stiffness/flexibility,” he told me. “The titanium is not required for that,” he continued, going on to say that the resin that the team used in the rest of the car was “suitable” for the job.

My next question was about fatigue failure, and how McLaren made sure that this aileron design could be actuated cycle after cycle without issue. “Carbon fibre has excellent fatigue properties,” Pary-Williams said, going on to remind me that the material is often used for springs, and even in Formula One “flexures”—joints that connect the race cars’ suspension arms to their chassis and allow for suspension articulation.

Carbon fiber springs are nothing new, and they’ve proven themselves on the racing circuit, which is why they should work well in this application—an application that which Carfection shows up close in the video below.

Staying on the topic of fatigue strength, Parry-Williams told me: “We have already rig tested the system to the number of cycles consistent with the target lifetime mileage with no failure.” Speaking of how the paint at that joint holds up, he said it’s designed to be “flexible enough to stay bonded without cracking,” and that his team tested it to make sure it holds up over the life of the car.

Referencing the aesthetics at that joint, he told me that keeping the setup looking pretty while deployed took some work. “The appearance of the moulded edges, gap conditions and mechanism is also important when the aileron is deployed and presented an additional challenge,” he said. That mechanism is a “machined aluminium lever,” which is found under the flaps, and controls the ailerons’ positions.

“Also, the exterior surface in the flexible region has to be exactly correct to avoid distortion, twisting or buckling,” he mentioned as another challenge to his engineering team.

The whole point of the flexible aileron setup is not for downforce, but for stability. “They are deployed as a function of car speed and deceleration and provide a stabilising influence at very high speed and under hard braking,” he said, “to maintain the correct aerodynamic balance front to rear.”

McLaren’s press release describes the benefits of this design feature in further detail:

McLaren has patented the flexible aileron design, which I must say, has a definite cool-factor to it, hence why we mentioned it in our Speedtail intro headline. It makes good sense, given the properties of carbon fiber, and with McLaren saying the aesthetics and fatigue challenges have all been thoroughly tested, I’ll admit that I’m a fan.

McLaren Special Operations (MSO) unveiled the 'Albert' Speedtail, a bespoke commission by North American McLaren retailer, McLaren Beverly Hills.

'Albert' is one of the final vehicles in the 106-car Speedtail production run and an homage to the first Speedtail attribute testing vehicle from 2018. Echoing the name of the 1992 McLaren F1 test mules, which were named after the Albert Drive premises in which the F1 was designed and built in Woking, England, the original MVY02 Speedtail prototype vehicle was christened 'Albert' as a respectful tribute to its three-seat predecessor.

The 'Albert' prototype vehicle was developed to validate the concept of the Speedtail's central seat driving position, testing driver ergonomics and visibility and rear-view camera positions. Originally built with the front panels from a 720S, the 'Albert' prototype was the first Speedtail to be driven on public roads.

The exterior design 'camouflage' was achieved by a simple two-metre vinyl body wrap with design lines printed to represent the optimised airflow over the car. The 'Albert' Speedtail carries on this legacy, sporting one of the most complex paint themes ever completed by MSO.

The colours selected for the 'Albert' homage are Magnesium Silver - the colour that the F1 road car was first shown in at the 1992 Monaco Grand Prix -and Ueno Grey, the colour of the F1 GTR that won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1995. The full design treatment is closely based on the 2018 vinyl 'camouflage' wrap.

"As one of the very last Speedtails to be built at the McLaren Production Centre, it was very important to us at McLaren Beverly Hills that 'Albert' honours the brand's rich heritage, particularly paying tribute to the icon that is the McLaren F1. We worked alongside MSO through every stage, including concept ideation, to produce a truly bespoke and beautifully detailed car that celebrates the innovation and design excellence behind the fastest McLaren road car to date. We are fortunate to have been able to procure 'Albert' for one of our top clients and are absolutely thrilled with the finished result."
Parris Mullins, McLaren Beverly Hills

The new 'Albert' was built in the McLaren Production Centre (MPC) with a 1K gloss visual carbon fibre body. Due to the incredibly complex and detailed nature of the paintwork design, the MSO team completed test panels first to understand process feasibility and worked alongside the visualiser team to refine renders. In total, 'Albert' would require a 12-week post-build modification at MSO's facility to reach completion; this included two week's masking, six week's painting and the remaining time to dry and reassemble the vehicle after spraying.

Referring to large scale print-outs of the renders, the livery masking was completed by two specialist paint technicians. This had to be completed on the built car, with wheels fitted, to ensure accurate cross-panel alignment of the design as it flows around the vehicle. In total, the masking of the livery required almost two kilometres of fine line-out tape to complete the initial design layout.

The six-week painting process required the car to be disassembled to ensure complete accuracy and flawless finish. The paint blend effect was located on the door applique's outer body panels with the front painted in Ueno Grey and rear in Magnesium Silver. After the first paint application, all body panels were treated and refitted to ensure perfect alignment and only after this the final clearcoat was applied.

"The name 'Albert' has a special resonance with MSO, as we are the custodians of the McLaren F1 and are based at the Albert Drive premises that McLaren Cars occupied in the 1990s. The Speedtail experience has been an exciting journey for our customers, from visualising their imaginations to realising these inspirations and sharing their delight when unveiling the finished product. 'Albert' brings this project to a conclusion and we are thrilled to finish on a high note." Ansar Ali, Managing Director, McLaren Special Operations

Based on the form of a teardrop, the most aerodynamically efficient shape found in nature, the Speedtail is the apotheosis of the streamlined hypercar, a three-seat Hyper-GT that became the third car in McLaren's Ultimate Series line-up. With its 1,070-horsepower hybrid powertrain, the Speedtail covers 112 metres per second when travelling at its top speed of 250mph/402kph, making it the fastest McLaren road car to date.