McLaren could have made the W1 faster … and might still

McLaren’s fastest and most powerful road car to date could have been even more potent, its extreme performance tempered in the name of driving enjoyment and accessibility. But the hypercar manufacturer might still let its full monster out of the cage.

Zero-to-100km/h acceleration in 2.7 seconds and peak power of 938kW (1275hp) might not seem like the kind of figures one would achieve while exercising restraint, but McLaren deliberately sacrificed outright performance in the name of comfort and drivability for its latest magnum opus, the W1.

It’s not clear just how much the exotic car-maker left in the drawer when developing the mighty McLaren W1, but it’s already bantamweight 1399kg could have been pared back and the new V8 taps wound open further.

Perhaps more excitingly though, the iconic British manufacturer is highly likely to demonstrate the untapped W1 performance potential in a future model that focuses less on luxury, and more on uncompromised pace.

When asked if outright speed was the most important factor in developing contemporary supercars, McLaren W1 product manager Heather Fitch told Carsales that ‘chasing numbers’ was not the main W1 objective, with ‘fun and engagement’ taking a higher priority.

“It really depends on what you're creating to begin with,” she said during the circa-$4m supercar’s Australian debut.

“So a car like the W1, one of the key objectives from the beginning was to make a car go on road and track. As soon as you have those two worlds, it starts to refine and tell you what you need to create.”

Therefore, the W1 team compromised outright performance ‘to some extent’ in order to produce a car that could both reward a capable driver on the track, as well as comfortably endure a daily commute or road trip if its owner chooses.

Fitch explained that supercars hunting the ultimate in acceleration, track times and bragging-rights numbers ironically often end up being squirrelled away and rarely used, whereas the W1 had been engineered to make its owner want to go for a drive.

“I don't want these cars sat in garages, I want them out there on road trips and being enjoyed. I want to see them in the city. I want to see people having fun with them,” she added.

Examples of measures the W1 engineers could have used to shrink lap times and weight include all-wheel drive in place of McLaren’s purist rear-drive, and the omission of cupholders and clever storage solutions. Neither of which McLaren chose.

“At the end of the day, we decided these were the right set of numbers for this car, where you could still have that exceptional track performance or something that you can still take the shops.”

But what if taking your W1 to the shops isn’t necessarily a requirement?

While the McLaren W1 kept a little up its sleeve, it’s highly likely another model or variant that follows it will not be required to hold back as much.

For the company’s fastest and most powerful road car to date, McLaren developed an all-new flat-plane crank twin-turbo V8 engine, which even without hybrid assistance produces 683kW – 62kW more than the most powerful version of its M840T predecessor, found in the Senna GTR LM.

It is highly unlikely, therefore, McLaren has rolled out the most powerful version of its new engine on debut so expect the MHP-8 to progressively grow in power as it evolves.

“This engine will be used to some extent in our future products,” confirmed Fitch.

“It is a bespoke application for this car (W1), it's not carried over from anywhere else, but we've built it to exacting design and specifications for this vehicle.

“So, obviously, we can't comment or speculate on anything else that is coming, but we have said yes, we will be using essentially this engine in our future.”

It’s not clear how long eager supercar watchers and collectors will have to wait to see the next (and more powerful) iteration of the MHP-8 engine, but McLaren’s previous model roll-out provides clues.

Within the family of ‘Ultimate Series’ cars which include the Senna, Elva and Speedtail, the company typically releases GTR/LM and LT versions of its initial models producing hardcore varietals for the track and road respectively.

Therefore, it’s not overly optimistic to expect a future W1 GTR, W1 LM or W1 LT that produces in excess of 1000kW and takes the Papaya Orange to even more stratospheric heights.