2023 Mclaren Artura on 2040-cars

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McLaren divulges Ultimate Series Speedtail hypercar will make more than 986 hp

With as much as we know about the McLaren Speedtail, we're still missing the finest, most important details. Now that hypercars are no longer unicorns but regularly released products, upper three- and four-digit horsepower figures need to be placed in the context of the segment and technical aspects to make the most impact. However, the latest morsel of news on the Speedtail is another step in the right direction. McLaren Automotive CEO Mike Flewitt told TopGear magazine at an owner's club gathering that the next Ultimate Series champion would produce "more than 1,000 PS," meaning at least 986 horsepower. Flewitt would only say about the rest of the engine that it will employ a recognizable architecture and "a slightly different hybrid application" than in the P1. We'll take that as euphemism for the 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 that features throughout the Sports and Super Series ranges, making 426 hp in the 570S GT4 and 710 hp in the 720S. The P1 used a 3.8-liter twin-turbo V8 making 727 hp, helped by an electric motor adding another 176 hp, for 903 in total. We're not sure how much any owner will feel the 83 hp difference between his P1 and his Speedtail, but Flewitt said the company's focused "on attributes rather than engines." What an owner will register is the Speedtail being much faster than the P1; the latter was limited to 217 miles per hour, the English automaker has already pledged the Speedtail will be the fastest-ever McLaren, which means eclipsing the 243 mph that the F1 achieved. It's likely that the 106 Speedtail owners will also note the three-seat coupe is more comfortable than both than its spiritual inspiration the F1, and the P1. Flewitt said his team's developed a hypercar that's "super comfortable, super to drive," and a "better driving proposition" than some of the multi-million-dollar competition going for top speed records. Speaking of top speed records, the McLaren Speedtail won't be going for any. The horsepower wars might not be over, but when an Aston Martin road car makes 1,130 hp, the battle's effectively been won by everyone who can take the field. Upstarts are turning their armaments on the physical walls of top speed, and Flewitt wants none of it.

Fernando Alonso fails to qualify as Pagenaud takes Indy pole

Former Formula One world champion Fernando Alonso narrowly failed to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday as France's Simon Pagenaud took pole position for the May 26 race. Kyle Kaiser beat out Alonso for the final spot in the 33-car field when he finished third, one spot ahead of the Spaniard, in a six-car shootout that determined the Indy 500's last row. The 23-year-old Kaiser, the last driver to take the track, averaged 227.372 mph for his four laps, a mere 0.019 mph ahead of Alonso's 227.353 mph average in the McLaren-prepared Chevrolet. "We never surrendered. We kept trying," Alonso, 37, told reporters after a tough week at the famed speedway. The Spaniard crashed his Chevrolet in practice on Wednesday and missed nearly two full days of practice while a back-up car was prepared. Then he tried five times on Saturday to qualify, puncturing a tire on the first attempt. Alonso had a completely new set up for Sunday's shootout but could not get the speed he needed to qualify. "I think the car felt better today than what we had yesterday. (So I am) happy with things we tried," he told reporters before learning he had not qualified. Pagenaud had a four-lap average speed of 229.992 mph to become the first Frenchman to take the pole since Rene Thomas in 1919. "It's just amazing," Pagenaud, who last week won the IndyCar Grand Prix on the track's road course, told NBC Sports. "Obviously last week was amazing, but this is even more special." He will be joined by Ed Carpenter (229.889) and Spencer Pigot (229.826) on the front row. But the Cinderella story belonged to Kaiser, the 33rd qualifier. "I don't think I can wrap my mind around what we just did," he said after bumping Alonso from the field. "This is all the credit to the team. They've been working non-stop trying to get this car ready for us and they did everything that we needed to get into this field." (Reporting by Gene Cherry in Raleigh, North Carolina; Editing by Ken Ferris)Related Video: Motorsports Chevrolet McLaren Racing Vehicles F1 IndyCar

Mario Andretti sees familiar spark in Fernando Alonso at Indy

INDIANAPOLIS - Mario Andretti sees the same spark in Fernando Alonso that drove him to take on all comers at race tracks around the world and said he believes the Spaniard is a threat to win the Indianapolis 500. Alonso set the motor racing world abuzz last month when he said he had been granted clearance by his McLaren Formula One team to miss the Monaco Grand Prix and race in the 101st Indy 500 on May 28 in pursuit of the sport's famed 'Triple Crown' - a Formula One title and Indy 500 and Le Mans wins. While Graham Hill is the only driver to achieve the feat, Andretti also stands alone as the only driver to win a Formula One world championship, an Indianapolis 500 and Daytona 500. "I embraced the challenges that's why I did it because I was curious," Andretti told Reuters before Alonso settled into the cockpit of an IndyCar for the first time on Wednesday. "Some drivers are very happy specializing. I wasn't. "I see the same spark in Alonso. "I commend him for doing this. I know how he feels because this was always my challenge to go into somebody else's sandbox and see if I could win at their own game. "There's nothing better than that." Despite Alonso having won 32 grands prix and two drivers championships, the 35-year-old was required to undergo IndyCar's rookie orientation program on Wednesday in order to get used to the unique environment of oval racing at the famed 2.5 mile (4km) Brickyard course. "Here you have constant high speed on a super speedway and it is incredibly different from what his (Alonso's) specialty is which is basically road racing," added Andretti. "It's not that he is going to be foreign to 220 mph plus but what he is going to be foreign to is cornering at 220mph plus. "That's the part that obviously he is going to have to deal with and learn how to approach it." McLaren will enter the race with a Honda-engined Indy car run by Andretti Autosport, owned by former McLaren driver Michael Andretti, who put together a detailed game plan for Alonso that began in a simulator. Alonso impressed on Wednesday as he quickly got up to speed with a fastest lap of 222.548 mph (356.825 kph) but Andretti said there was still a lot for him to learn. "As you get closer to qualifying then he is going to have to start flirting with the limit of the car. That's when it gets precarious," said Andretti. "At these speeds when you're flirting with the limits of the car and ready to go then you have to have a pretty good feel.