2012 Mclaren Mp4-12c Coupe on 2040-cars

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McLaren shows off new grand tourer in light camo

McLaren announced its upcoming grand tourer model at the Geneva Motor Show last month. The yet-unnamed GT will not be part of any established McLaren series, but rather doing its own luxury thing as a newcomer. We presume there are a number of McLaren customers who, while appreciative of the brand's image and engineering, would put a premium on cabin comfort and highway legs rather than outright supercar intensity – not that McLarens usually come that stripped. The manufacturer has now released new teaser images of the carbon-monocoque car, without any obscuring plastics, just camo on the grand tourer's flanks. The design appears pleasingly un-gimmicky, in a classic 2000s supercar way — there's certainly a touch of Ferrari about it. But what sets the upcoming model apart from usual supercar fare will be its cabin: reportedly comfortable and spacious enough to complete a 1,000-mile jaunt from Woking to Barcelona in one go, complete with a full set of luggage on board. McLaren CEO Mike Flewitt dubbed the grand tourer "the most useable mid-engine car yet" at the Geneva event. Engineering a supercar-shaped vehicle to have useable trunk space must be a challenge, but the production car is said to be able to transport a full set of golf clubs or two pairs of 6-foot-long skis and associated ski boots — in other words, what a McLaren owner would happily pack for a continental holiday. The powertrain of the grand tourer will consist of a twin-turbo V8, with electrification to help it reach the kind of range needed in a comfortable continent-crossing car. Featured Gallery McLaren GT spy shots Image Credit: McLaren Automotive McLaren Coupe Luxury Performance

2015 McLaren P1 [w/video]

We have already raved about the Porsche 918 Spyder, and all indications suggest we'll be moved to dispense flowery Italian prose about the upcoming Ferrari LaFerrari (even if the name does sound like a skip on a 45-rpm record). In between these two hypercars comes this British mind-boggle better known as the McLaren P1. As a pure driver's exoticar, the P1 outshines the Porsche in dynamics and nimbleness, while the 918 engineers the miracle of potentially exceptional mileage combined with face-flattening speed that equals the Big Mac. Both cost around $1 million ($845,000 for the 918, $1.15 million for the P1 – at this level, what's a few hundred-thousand dollars among friends?), and both get most normal humans as close to experiencing Formula One for the street without driving something that looks like a single-seat, open-wheel car. You can imagine my excitement as I was ushered over to Dunsfold Airfield south of London to have my cherished laps in McLaren P1 validation prototype No. 5. I have never experienced good weather here, but I was thankfully blessed with tepid air and brilliant late winter sunshine for this drive. This means that there wasn't the usual standing rainwater on the scrappy Top Gear test track. As I arrived at the McLaren bunker alongside the makeshift circuit, the mellow, flame-yellow P1 I was to drive was already going through motions in a client's hands. This client and his charming wife were just finishing up several laps of their own, including some absolutely scorching rounds with McLaren chief test pilot Chris Goodwin, as well as with McLaren GT3 driver Duncan Tappy. The couple was as giddy as teenagers when I talked with them, smiling from ear to ear. And they were not from Dubai, not from Moscow, not from Singapore, and not from Beverly Hills. They were from Ohio, so leave your rich people stereotypes at the door. I should get on with the drive experience, but a primer about what this McLaren proposes to the driver is needed. Like the MP4-12C, the P1's "petrol-electric" plug-in hybrid sits on the same aluminum-carbon composite architecture and uses the company's M838T 3.8-liter twin-turbo V8 built by Ricardo. From there, it's all changes and intelligently pumped-up performance numbers. In E-mode, the electric motor can run things alone over a maximum of approximately 7.5 miles. A dry P1 sitting empty weighs a stated 3,075 pounds, which is not far off the weight of a 570-horsepower Ferrari 458 Italia.

McLaren adding hardcore GT4-based 620R model to the range

The McLaren 570S has provided a versatile and ever more powerful platform for the English brand. In early 2016, McLaren launched the 570S GT4 (pictured) to compete in global campaigns of the FIA racing series, and a 570S Sprint that was a track-only, unrestricted GT4 car for customers who wanted stimulation free of FIA regulations. In early 2018, McLaren Newport commissioned 10 examples of the MSO X, a road-going version of the 570S GT4 Le Mans wearing a livery reminiscent of that on one of the McLaren F1 GTRs. Then came the 600LT, a lighter, longer, more powerful version of the 570S. Autocar and PistonHeads report McLaren will take the Sports Series range even further, with a forthcoming 620R model bearing traits from each of those forebears. Road-legal but with the visual purpose of a track car, the 620R will be based on the 600LT. As the name hints, power from the 3.8-liter twin-turbo V8 should increase to 620 metric horsepower, or 612 of our horses, a step beyond the 592 hp in the 600LT. The aero package looks taken directly from the GT4, and then some. Note the front splitter and angled strakes, aero flics at the corners, hood intakes, floor-widening sill extensions, and rear wing all from the GT4. The exhaust location retains the GT4 layout at the corners of a GT4 rear diffuser, a switch from the top-exit exhaust on the 600LT. PistonHeads suspects the 620R adopts the GT4's coilover springs with adjustable dampers, and perhaps the race car's wider track, too. The modifications go further than the race car with the addition of a roof-mounted intake, found on the dealer-commissioned 570S GT4 Le Mans. Autocar managed to get spy shots of the 620R's exterior, but the interior remains a mystery. The cabin will likely be stripped of fripperies, though, as seen on the MSO X. McLaren confirmed the 620R to Autocar and said, "This IS a car that will be offered to select customers by invitation only." The customers invited to order should expect a price premium over the 600LT, which started at $224,000. We'll know how much of a premium whenever McLaren goes public.