A truly modern hypercar, the P1 fuses McLaren’s heritage and engineering skill with the latest PHEV technology to produce a car practically unrivalled in its style, performance and handling.
In 2013, McLaren’s search for the ultimate high-performance road car continued. And building on the solid foundation laid by the F1 in the late 90s, and backed up with lessons learned from the 12C, the McLaren P1 left their state-of-the-art Surrey production lab in 2014.
Just 375 models were available to buy, and all were sold within a month. A GTR edition was sold too, a year later, but only offered to those who owned the original P1 – some people get all the luck.
Driving sales and cementing the P1’s place in history were the car’s incredible performance and use of technology. Under the bonnet is a 3.8 litre V8 engine that provides 727bhp and a 177bhp McLaren-developed electric motor, combining for 904bhp in total. The P1 storms from 0 to 60 in 2.8 seconds and can hit 221mph at full tilt, or 249mph when the limiter is removed.
Being a PHEV, the car’s batteries can be charged by plugging the car into a standard socket, and also through use of a KERS system which stores up energy usually lost under braking. Energy from the batteries is then used as a power boost to make up for the conventional engine’s turbo lag and to supplement the petrol engine to hit those top speeds. The P1 can even be driven solely using its electric motor, but you’ll only get a meagre six mile range out of it – barely enough to reach the next plug.
Just as drivers have come to expect from McLaren, the P1 makes use of several technologies first seen in Formula 1. Aside from the KERS system, an ‘Instant Power Assist System’ is what gives the petrol engine a helpful nudge under acceleration, and the manually deployable DRS on the rear wing offers some much needed downforce if you’re pushing the car to its limits on the track.
With the help of that DRS and with tweaked versions of the suspension and braking systems seen on McLaren’s other supercars, the P1 doesn’t sacrifice handling for power. Road testing, Autocar said: “The P1 is astoundingly reassuring at its limit. You can brake into a bend to unsettle the rear and get back on the power to ride out a slide with the same abandon as you might in a two-stroke kart. And you’ll want to do it all day. That is the P1’s greatest achievement.”
With around 75% of P1s leaving the factory being customised by the McLaren Special Operations team, the average price for a new model in 2014 was estimated at around £1,000,000 – and you’d probably need even more now to prise one from its lucky owner’s grip.
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