McLaren is celebrating the 10th anniversary of the launch of the production version of the McLaren P1™ this week. This remarkable hypercar, unveiled at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show, is considered a milestone for McLaren and the development of high-performance hybrid vehicles - as most recently demonstrated by the all-new McLaren Artura. The McLaren P1™ was developed with the goal of being "the best driver's car in the world on the road and on the track." The design and technical specifications of the McLaren P1™ provided the ideal foundation to achieve this goal. A series of testing and development successes in 2013 - including lapping the famous Nürburgring-Nordschleife - immediately underpinned the car's credibility. Ten years after its appearance at the Geneva Motor Show - and in the year that McLaren also celebrates the 60th anniversary of Bruce McLaren's founding of the company - the McLaren P1™ remains an incredibly exciting and dynamic performer on the road and track.
The P1™'s enduring legacy goes beyond its iconic status in McLaren's history of technologically advanced, driver-focused cars. As a pioneer of electrification as a driving enhancement, it changed perceptions of the technology and inspired the groundbreaking Artura, a supercar that combines exhilarating performance and driving dynamics with electric drive capability - a winning combination pioneered by the McLaren P1™.
McLaren P1™ - ten facts about the iconic hypercar
- The McLaren P1™ accelerates from a standstill to 300km/h in 16.5 seconds - a full 5.5 seconds faster than the legendary McLaren F1.
- The McLaren P1™ can be operated in all-electric zero-emission mode for short-distance city driving.
- In race mode, the McLaren P1™ lowers by 50 mm and spring rates stiffen by 300 percent, allowing the car to corner at more than 2 g.
- The McLaren P1™'s adjustable rear wing protrudes up to 120 mm from the body on the road and up to 300 mm on the track.
- Silicon carbide-coated carbon ceramic discs bring the McLaren P1™ to a halt in just 30.2 meters from 100 km/h.
- Formula 1-style Inconel exhaust takes the most direct route from the engine to the rear of the McLaren P1™ and weighs just 17 kg.
- The steering wheel diameter of a McLaren P1™ is technically as precise as a steering wheel used by McLaren racers: the hand grips of McLaren's Formula 1 world champions were modeled and scanned on a CAD system during development to create an exact replica
- Each McLaren P1™ was custom-built by a team of 82 technicians in a four-step assembly process. From start to finish, each car took 17 days to build.
- During its development program, the McLaren P1™ covered more than 620,000 test kilometers, the equivalent of more than 15 circumnavigations of the globe.
- The name comes from Grand Prix racing, with "P1" standing for the first place on the grid, but the name also has a long tradition: The McLaren F1 was originally known as Project 1 or P1.
