The Past
In 1992, Gordon Murray came up with the concept of a McLaren road car that would blow the top speed record out of the water, and after Ron Dennis backed the project, the McLaren F1 was born. Built around the 6.5l BMW V12, the famous XP5 prototype with no rev limiter did exactly what they wanted it to do as it hit a top speed of 240.1mph, destroying the previous record held by the Jaguar XJ220 at 217mph. Due to the notable success of the F1 and the rarity of it (106 cars total), it has widely been regarded as one of the greatest cars of all time with owners such as George Harrison, Elon Musk, Rowan Atkinson and the Sultan of Brunei who acquired 10 of the 106 F1s. In order to buy a good road F1 now will cost upwards of £10million as its legacy has shot up the value from the original price of £540,000. The F1 legacy was not just made up of road cars as the GTR programme was an incredible motorsport success. By request of many motorsport teams, McLaren made 28 F1 GTRs to race in a multitude of racing series including the 24h of Le Mans which it won in 1995 with cars amazingly finishing 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 13th among a class of purpose built racing cars. Many F1 GTRs have now been converted to road use including the LARK GTR. Due to the success at Le Mans, McLaren created five special editions of the F1 known as the LM which included the UenoClinic winning car, and it was used as a road legal version of the GTR. This was followed by the F1 HDK which was a high downforce kit that owners could put on their F1 to replicate the visual elements of the F1 GTR, only two cars are known to have the HDK kit and one of which sold at auction for £19.85m. The final incarnation of the F1 was the F1 GT which was built as a homologation special for the GT1 category, which was a longtail version of the regular F1. The F1 GTR Longtail is suggested to be the greatest looking car of all time to race, especially in liveries such as Parabolica, Lark and FINA. Due to GT1 rules at the time, a certain number of road legal versions of race cars have to be produced in order for the car to be allowed to race in the series which is where we get such cars as the Mercedes CLK GTR, the Porsche 911 GT1 and the Nissan R390. McLaren built only three F1 GTs, one of which resides at McLaren in Woking, another in the Sultan of Brunei's collection of 10 and the other in a hidden collection in Japan. The F1 really was the genesis of McLaren cars but another car didn't emerge from McLaren for another 11 years.
In 2011, McLaren decided to finally mass produce a new supercar to succeed the F1. They produced the MP4-12C which later just became known as the 12C, which focused on McLaren's obsession with weight saving, much like Colin Chapman's approach at Lotus. The design was carried out entirely in house which led to the car having a beautiful styled body made of some of the lightest materials such as magnesium beams in the car and the chassis being made of carbon fibre making the whole underpinning of the car weigh only 80kg. Powered by a 3.8l twin turbo V8, the 12C took the supercar game by storm taking on the Ferrari 458 and the Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera, accelerating to 60mph in 2.9 seconds which is 0.4 seconds faster than the 458 and 0.5 seconds faster than the Lamborghini. The top speed was on top as well, with a speed of 205mph compared to 202mph for both the 458 and the Gallardo. McLaren originally aimed to build around 700 coupes and later created an extra 600 convertible variants. The list price of it was around £170k which was a similar price to the rivals but provided a massive dent to the supercar market.
In 2013, McLaren had a small cult following and made its mark on the hypercar market, much like the F1 twenty years prior. Around this time, Ferrari and Porsche were launching their hybrid hypercars and McLaren decided they wanted to create a car to outshine the two greatest sports car manufacturers of all time. It was called the P1 and was the first of the three to make production and set a new standard for performance and handling. It used the same 3.8l twin turbo V8 as the 12C however somehow they managed to get 727bhp from it, as well as adding a 176bhp electric motor to bring the total to a staggering 903bhp. The 0-60 time was around 2.7 seconds and the top speed was electronically limited to 217mph though McLaren claimed it could reach 250mph if the restrictor was removed. It really made an impact on the hypercar world that the later released Ferrari LaFerrari and Porsche 918 had a fierce challenger, and this car was the car that put McLaren back on the market. Since the original launch, there have been some iterations of the 375 original P1s such as the GTR which was a track only version of the P1 with only 40 examples. There has also been the LM created by Lanzante, who road legalise F1 GTRs and P1 GTRs, which is based on 5 P1 GTR chassis but with the exception of standard road legality. In 2018 there was a single P1 GT created which was a longtail version of the standard P1 also created by Lanzante. There is no doubt however that the P1 was the cornerstone of the rebirth of McLaren.
At this stage in development, McLaren had two series for their cars being the super series and the ultimate series which separated the 12C and the P1 from each other. Since the creation of these two series, McLaren finally replaced the P1 and in 2014 gave the motoring world the 650S. Combining design elements of both the P1 and the 12C, this allowed for a better handling car as well as a faster car with the top speed rising to 207mph. This was later followed by a Spider version which was seen to be a bit fatter and heavier which affected the handling capabilities but was still a great success for McLaren. The 650S was also the car that gave McLaren possibly their best handling road car of all time, the 675LT. This was essentially a track focused version of the 650 but a road legal one meaning it was McLarens most driver oriented car around. The LT also refers to the F1 GTR LT as mentioned prior to show its prowess on the track. Limited to 500 coupes and 500 spiders and with a £60k price increase over the 650S it could have been considered overpriced. However winning multiple car of the year awards and staggering performance figures have reinforced the idea that this is was the best McLaren ever made at the time. The 650S also provided other limited series cars with the introduction of the 650S Can-Am created to celebrate 50 years since McLaren's first Can-Am race, limited to 50 units, the 650S Le Mans which was finished in the same grey as the 1995 Le Mans winning F1 GTR also limited to 50 units and the MSO HS which was a completely bespoke product created for 25 lucky individuals that featured many unique visual elements such as a fixed rear wing and fixed splitters.
The Present
McLaren had officially taken off at this stage, but as their cheapest car was the 650S at £195,000, McLaren felt they were missing out on a market being dominated by Porsche GT3s and Ferrari Californias and therefore in 2015 the sports series was created with the launch of the 570S. A smaller sports car, the 570S was slightly slower than the super series cars but at 'only' £143,000, the 570S was seen to be a perfect budget supercar. It features the nose of the P1 but an entirely new rear end design which creates a streamlined body for the car. It was greeted with more raving reviews which finally cemented McLaren as one of the best supercar manufacturers of the 2010s and indeed in the world. The 570S was later followed by the 570GT which featured a softer suspension, more storage space and an overall more practical feel to it as well as what was labelled as the 'baby McLaren' being the 540C. This used all of the technical features of the 570S but dropped the price down to £125,000 meaning it was the cheapest new McLaren ever launched and it rivalled the Aston Martin Vantage and Porsche 911 Turbo rather than the more high end supercars that the 570S rivalled. The 570S was later given the spider treatment as well as the limited series treatment with the MSO X. Created by taking 10 regular 570Ss and customising them to a similar spec as the 570S GT4 racing car, it remains to be one of the rarest bespoke McLarens ever made. Much like the 650S, the 570S has a longtail version of it known as the 600LT. This follows from its spiritual predecessor, the 675LT, brilliantly as once again it smashed all rivals out of the park. It also featured a first on modern cars being the top mounted exhausts which exited the car via two pipes above the engine which allowed for 50-50 weight distribution and for the car to be even more aerodynamic than the 675LT. Unlike the 675LT however this car is not limited in terms of production numbers so the coupe and the spider are still being produced now.
This is where the McLaren story begins to deplete as the test mules for the next two cars had similar issues that the exhaust residue would build up and eventually the car would catch fire. This created a negative outlook and suddenly it was a stereotype that all McLarens would catch fire if they were bought. All this negative press led to a slight decrease in sales but when the next models came around, that problem soon disappeared. The latest McLaren replaced the 650S after 3 years of production and was known as the 720S. The 720S was held up to be one of the most pivotal cars in McLaren's very short history as the car was labelled to be 90% new compared to the outgoing 650S but they obviously didn't change the way it performed on track. Clocking at 7m 08secs around the Nürburgring Nordschliefe, it was thrown into the deep end to have a very similar time to the AMG GTR Pro and the 488 Pista that it would rival. The design provided a new front end and a fairly new rear end that premiered the 'Monocage II' carbon tub chassis that would be used on later McLaren models, but the one element about the 720S that makes it what it is, is the way it feels. When at slow speeds it was comfortable and didn't feel like a 720hp, 212mph track monster. But when it was opened up on a track, it handled like a GT3 car due to the incredible power to weight ratio that allows for a 0-60mph sprint of 2.9 seconds and it feels incredibly smooth through the corners. It is one of McLaren's best cars yet, and with the Spider released around a year ago, McLaren managed to smash it out of the park yet again. Recently a longtail version of the 720S was announced to be called the 765LT which, when it releases, potentially could be even better than the 600/675LT.
Senna is a name, that when mentioned alongside McLaren, provides many people with memories of the greatest God-given talent ever to grace Formula One. Ayrton Senna was a true legend of the sport, winning three world championships with McLaren and always being the highlight of the field. From the Lap of the Gods that took him from 5th on the grid to 1st in the opening lap, a feat still unheard of, let alone in the wide and hard-to-drive 1990s Formula One cars. Senna was on his way to a fourth world championship in 1994 when the championship came to Imola, one of the hardest and fastest tracks in the world. After Roland Ratzenberger was tragically killed in a qualifying accident, Senna protested that the race should be cancelled but the race went ahead as planned. On lap 7, Senna's Williams left the racing line on the Tamburello corner at 191mph and hit the concrete barrier wall. After Sid Watkins (FIA medical chief) extracted Senna from his car and took him to hospital, Senna tragically died in what Murray Walker described as the 'darkest day' he could remember. McLaren Automotive as a tribute to the great man, named their latest track beating ultimate series car the Senna. With controversial aesthetics, the Senna was faster than the McLaren P1 and even the GTR variant with epic downforce, 800bhp and a top speed of 211mph. This plus a 1200kg curb weight, makes the Senna one of the fastest cars of the 2010s. It will sprint to 60 in only 2.6 seconds making it the fastest accelerating McLaren of all time, only excluding racing cars. The price was fairly hefty at £750k but for all that performance and only 500 units to be made, the price may have been justified. McLaren later released the track only Senna GTR with 814bhp, 1000kg of downforce and only 75 made at a price of £1.3m each. McLaren stated that it was the fastest lapping McLaren of all time only being surpassed by Formula One cars.
The Future
Having made a massive mark on the supercar scene, McLaren decided to expand their range in order to appeal to a wider target market without having to build an SUV like Maserati and Lamborghini. The GT was launched to be what it said in the name, a grand tourer, and was built to rival the Bentley Continental GT, Mercedes AMG GT63S and the Ferrari GTC4 Lusso. Based on a 720S platform, the GT has rounded aesthetics and a four seat (only just) interior. But just because this is meant to be a practical car, doesn't mean any of the performance has been lost. With 620hp it is not as powerful as the 720S but it was not meant to beat lap records, it was meant for late night coastal driving along the French Riviera. With a fairly reasonable £163k price tag compared to the £230k price of the Ferrari and the £170k price of the Bentley, it is certainly another class. This was the first of the new class of car that McLaren will be producing for the next 5 years or so.
The latest edition of the McLaren Ultimate Series will be a homage to the McLaren F1 and will be absolutely breath-taking. The car will be named the Speedtail and will be one of the most aerodynamically efficient cars ever built as it was built entirely for aerodynamics and speed, to achieve similar speeds to the F1. When taken to an airfield for testing, the Speedtail consistently hit 250mph 'easily' which shows the immense power and drive this car has. It will feature a hybrid powertrain with upwards of 1050bhp making it the most powerful McLaren of all time as well as the fastest. The car shows its true resemblance to the F1 as it features the same interior layout as the original with a central driving position and two passenger seats either side of the driver. It also will have 106 units made, the total of F1s made (including GTRs, GTs, LMs and LTs). All the cars have already been sold at £2m each but for all this heritage it will be worth it. I have only seen the prototype but it had so much of a presence that I know it will be a success.
The final car McLaren have on their horizons is the Elva. The Elva is McLaren's entry into the Speedster market which has become a trend in the last year or so, to release a car with no roof to homage previous models. Aston Martin began with their Vanquish Zagato Speedster which was one of 28. Now Ferrari have their Monza SP1 and SP2, Bentley have their Bacalar, the Porsche 911 Speedster, Aston Martin's V12 Speedster and the McLaren Elva. Built to tribute the Can-Am cars of the 1970s such as the McLaren M1A, M1B and M1C, the Elva has the front nose of the new Speedtail and features the same performance figures as the Senna, but with no roof or windscreen. Not many details have been released about the Elva as of yet but there will be 399 units and there has already been one shown to be in the orange livery of the 1967 McLaren M6A built by MSO.
Conclusion
The rise of McLaren has therefore been fairly instantaneous and the progress can only get faster and faster. They are beginning to regain their prowess in Formula One after many years of sorry performances, they have entered IndyCar with Fernando Alonso being one of their drivers, their GT3 programme is winning the most in its history with the 720S GT3 and their road cars are more incredible than ever. I can safely predict that McLaren will be a force to be reckoned with in the future much like they are now.
(Top Left - Speedtail, Top Right - 600LT Spider, Bottom Left - P1, Bottom Right - GT)
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