The McLaren P1 GTR – The Age Of Horsepower For The Well-Heeled Shows That Hybrid Tech Can Be Used For More Than Social Posturing


The McLaren P1 GTR – The Age Of Horsepower For The Well-Heeled Shows That Hybrid Tech Can Be Used For More Than Social Posturing

It costs $1.98 million dollars, it isn’t street legal, you already have to own a street-going McLaren P1 to even get your hands on one, and it won’t be seen in the public until the Geneva Auto Show in early March. Meet the McLaren P1 GTR, a hybrid supercar that proves that electric motors aren’t just for the eco-weenie’s Prius in your parking lot. This is how “gentleman drivers” proceed to scare the living shit out of themselves, forcing them into admitting that they may not be as good of a driver as they originally thought.

harris-p1

The street-going P1 isn’t anything to dismiss by a long shot. Top Gear referred to it as “The Widowmaker” and when he matted the throttle, the P1 put a horrified, “scared straight” expression on Jeremy Clarkson’s face, the kind that shows that he had to force himself to say “Oh, God!” instead of something a damn sight more colorful…though, that might have been due to him driving the car in the wet at Spa. When Chris Harris got his turn at the P1, he stuttered, drop-jawed: “This thing is a freak…it’s genius.” It packs 903 horsepower and 722 ft/lb of torque that comes alive with two engines: a twin-turbo 3.8L V8 that delivers 727hp on it’s own accord, and a bespoke electric motor that, with 192 horsepower, would be considered a hot-rod upgrade for a Honda Insight. It has active aerodynamics and suspension, KERS regeneration, and silicon carbide brakes made by Akebono that stop you before you become a grease spot in the middle of crushed carbon fiber. So how does McLaren top that act? Naturally, start with a power increase. The GTR gets bumped up to 986 horsepower because, at this point, why the hell not? Next, shed weight: for a hybrid, the P1’s 3,280lb curb weight is pretty impressive, but in the GTR, McLaren managed to ditch another 110 or so pounds. Since the P1 doesn’t come with such luxuries as carpet, lacquer sealer over the exposed carbon fiber or even quarter windows, they had to get radical. In this case, the door glass was ditched for polycarbonate pieces and the chemically-toughened roof panels were canned for a carbon fiber roof panel.

Turning a multi-millionaire loose in a track weapon like this is not the smartest thing in the world, so McLaren have put together a full-blown testing and training experience for potential owners of these cars. McLaren has a driving simulator set up and will perform an initial test session at Silverstone, followed by the first track work at Circuit de Catalunya in Spain. This isn’t just a “get to know your car” session, this is full-on driver training. This is somewhat analogous to Ferrari’s XX program, except it appears that the owners of the P1 GTR will be able to take their cars home at the end of the day, whereas Ferrari’s program is meant to turn the drivers into uncompensated test drivers that have paid for the privilege of being behind the wheel of a hot Italian.

F1 and P1

The P1 GTR will be displayed with it’s predecessor, the F1 GTR. This particular F1 GTR is the third-place winner from the 1995 LeMans, one of the nine cars built by McLaren that year. At 600 horsepower, it might be down on power but make no mistake, it’s no slouch, having been derived from the former top speed record holder street car. Even the blue-bloods agree: the horsepower wars are in full swing. And as far as McLaren is concerned, that FXXK-ing Ferrari is nothing more than a blip on the radar.

This is the Top Gear clip of the street-going P1. If you study Clarkson’s face hard enough you can actually see him remembering to not swear while driving. That’s the street version. Long live horsepower.


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