2018 Mclaren 570s Spider on 2040-cars

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Fernando Alonso drives Senna's McLaren in latest promo clip

McLaren has put a lot of great drivers in the cockpit over the years. Several multiple World Champions in fact, from Ayrton Senna to Fernando Alonso. It may seem only fitting then that the latter should get a chance to sample the former's ride, and that's just what the team has done for this latest promo video. It's actually the trailer for a new clip called Don't Crack Under Pressure, celebrating 30 years of partnership between McLaren and TAG Heuer, filmed at Catalunya (Spain). Which is all well and fine, but the point is: Alonso, in Senna's car, the MP4/4 in which Senna won his first World Championship in 1988. And he's playing cat and mouse, no less, with Jenson Button in the new MP4-30, which is powered once again by Honda. Just like in the Senna days.

Say goodbye to the McLaren P1

McLaren just built the 375th and final example of the P1. And with it, production of the hybrid hypercar draws to a close, sealing the chapter on one of the most capable performance machines ever to grace the road. Now that all 375 have been completed, the company is retiring the model entirely. It still has a handful of track-bound P1 GTRs to finish, but expects to complete those early in the new year ahead. Speaking with Autoblog recently at the launch of the 570S, spokesman Wayne Bruce confirmed that no further versions of the P1 would follow – no convertibles, no road-going take on the GTR, nothing. So once the P1 GTR is finished, the production line will be shut down and the Ultimate Series will be no more. He also told us that no plans for a successor are on the table at the moment, a notion echoed by his boss, chief executive Mike Flewitt, in the statement below: "The McLaren P1 has already established itself as an icon and any car that is to continue the lineage of the Ultimate Series will need to be a worthy successor - a significant step change in technology or performance is required to ensure this is the case. The future is undecided at this stage." Envisioned as the spiritual successor to the legendary McLaren F1, the P1 debuted in concept form at the 2012 Paris Motor Show, and in production form at the Geneva show the following year. It was designed around the same building blocks – carbon monocoque, 3.8-liter twin-turbo V8, seven-speed DCT – as everything else McLaren produces, but features a hybrid powertrain to boost output up to 903 horsepower. The result is a 0-62 time of 2.8 seconds and a top speed of 217 miles per hour. McLaren limited production to just 375 examples made available for public consumption (on top of factory 21 prototypes), making it more exclusive than either the Porsche 918 Spyder or Ferrari LaFerrari with which it has invariably been compared. Each of those 375 examples took 105 workers 800 man-hours across 17 days to complete, rolling off the dedicated assembly on the side of the McLaren Production Centre at a rate of one each day. The paint process alone could take up to five days, depending on specification, with yellow emerging the most popular color choice. Every last one was made to order and customized by McLaren Special Operations, ensuring that no two were alike. The first example pictured above rolled off the assembly line in September 2013, finished in silver with contrasting carbon-fiber trim.

McLaren flanks upcoming new Sports Series

If you think major automakers like Volkswagen and General Motors have been making the most of their technologies, just look at McLaren. The British supercar constructor developed a carbon-monocoque chassis, 3.8-liter twin-turbo V8 and seven-speed dual-clutch transmission for the MP4-12C with which it launched in 2011, and has used those basic building blocks as the backbone for everything it's done since. Next up will be the new Sports Series, and what we're looking at here is our first glimpse at a completely undisguised body panel for that new model line. Granted there's not a whole lot to see from the teaser images above, but it does show us a substantial section of the vehicle's flank. Central to its profile is the side intake, which to our eye would seem to pay homage to its earlier logo – a streamline form of its original kiwi bird mascot – it used throughout the 1970s, much as the headlamps and other elements on the 650S and P1 take their inspiration from the company's current boomerang-shaped logo. The carbon accent flows from the front wheel well into the airtake aft of the door. Like the P1 but unlike the company's other supercars to date, the wing mirrors are fixed to the door rather than the window frame, and of course the whole thing is decked out in Woking's signature shade of orange. Beyond that, we'll have to wait... but not for much longer as McLaren is set to take the wraps off its new entry-level model in a few weeks' time at the New York Auto Show. That's when and where it will join the company's existing Super Series and Ultimate Series as McLaren's most accessible and highest-volume model line yet – what the company is referring as a defining or "Black Swan" moment. It'll be built around those same building blocks but with a detuned engine to take on the likes of the Audi R8 and Porsche 911 Turbo and GT3, coming in a variety of body-styles and states of tune. News Source: McLaren via Facebook McLaren Coupe Supercars 2015 ny auto show mclaren sports series