GENEVA MOTOR SHOW: McLaren adds Drift Control

Variable drift control will be one of the highlights of a new, innovative active chassis control system that will be the basis of McLaren’s 650S replacement when it debuts at the Geneva motor show next month (March 2017).

Codenamed P14, the new Sports Series car will be give the “widest breadth of dynamic ability of any McLaren”, its development boss said.

Christened ‘roactive Chassis Control II by McLaren, the system will deliver Comfort, Sport and Track modes and automatically adjusts its damping hundreds of times a second. It has dozens of new sensors scattered all around the car to make the system more accurate, including new accelerometers for each wheel hub.

While Mercedes-AMG’s GT R uses a rotary knob to adjust the skid-control intensity, drivers will control the same thing in the 650S replacement by swiping their fingers across the multimedia screen.

McLaren claims it will be twice as efficient aerodynamically as the current 650S and will include a range of new aerodynamic tricks, including a full-width rear wing that turns into McLaren’s now trademark air brake in less than half a second.

The 650S big side air intakes for the mid-mounted biturbo V8 have gone in the new car, replaced by ducts in the doors that feed air into smaller air inlets.

It’s all based around McLaren’s second-generation modular carbon-fibre monocoque chassis, dubbed Monocage II. The car will weigh only 1283kg according to McLaren. That’s 18kg less than the 650S and almost 200kg less than the 488 GTB Ferrari.

The P14 will be McLaren's first second-generation production sports car, and will lead a product onslaught of 15 new models by 2022.