PARIS MOTOR SHOW: McLaren P1 set for F1 glory

McLaren’s new P1 hypercar was the star of Paris 2012… But more importantly, it is set to reclaim the title of the world’s best supercar for the British F1 outfit.

With Ferrari’s Enzo replacement waiting in the wings, McLaren launched its P1 at Paris with the target of being: “The best driver’s car in the world on both the road and the track”.

Filled with F1 technologies (and technologies banned from F1 for being far too efficient) the P1 will deliver active aerodynamics from an aero-dominated body design draped over a super stiff carbon-fibre monocoque.

“The P1 will be the result of 50 years of racing and road car heritage,” McLaren Automotive Executive Chairman Ron Dennis said.

“Twenty years ago we raised the supercar performance bar with the McLaren F1 and our goal with the McLaren P1 is to redefine it once again.”

The P1 will deliver as much as 600kg of downforce, which is incredibly five times as much as its stablemate MP4-12C generates and far more than any production car in history, McLaren claims.

While McLaren has continued to be coy about the P1’s powertrain, it is believed to have based it around the 12C’s twin-turbo, 3.8-litre V8 and may include a F1-inspired KERS system to help out with extra performance whenever the driver wants it.

Rough calculations, based on McLaren’s claims of a power-to-weight ratio of 600 horsepower per tonne, put the P1’s power output at around the 525kW mark – almost smack in the middle of the range between the Lamborghini Aventador and the Ferrari F12.

“Our aim is not necessarily to be the fastest in absolute top speed but to be the quickest and most rewarding series production road car on a circuit,” says McLaren Automotive Managing Director, Antony Sheriff.

“It is designed to be driven to the racing circuit, with great levels of comfort and refinement… And then to be used on the racing circuit, where it will offer an experience matched only by purpose-built race cars," he said.

“It is the true test of a supercar’s all round ability and a much more important technical statement.”

Due on sale in late 2013, the P1 is also claimed to be lighter than the MP4-12C (or 12C, as it’s now known) even though it shares the core of the base McLaren’s monocoque chassis, its windscreen pillars and most of its design hard points.

While the Paris show car was utterly devoid of an interior (probably to hide suspicions that it may not be available in right-hand drive), McLaren promises it will be able to switch through three different ride heights to deliver on-road comfort, race track handling and everything in between.

Chief Design Engineer Dan Parry-Williams and Mr Sheriff freely admitted that aero concerns had a greater priority than input from McLaren’s design director, Frank Stephenson.

“It was designed from the outset to prioritise aerodynamic performance and spent many hours in a wind tunnel and using CFD [computational fluid dynamics] aerodynamic modeling – just like a Formula One car,” Mr Sheriff said.

Its aero requirements dominate the carbon-fibre bodyshell, including huge air intakes in the doors to cool the engine, a roof-mounted intake for the engine itself and three enormous intakes in the nose.

“It is engineering design led. It celebrates aerodynamics, great packaging and light weight. It is all about innovative technology,” Mr Parry-Williams said.

“The priority was high speed performance matched with tremendous composure, which would come mostly from the state-of-the-art aerodynamics. We wanted a car that was benign and predictable at any speed.”

The former Head of Aerodynamics for the McLaren Racing, and now Head of Vehicle Technology for McLaren Automotive, Simon Lacey, was responsible for the aero performance.

“The astonishing downforce actually makes driving easier as well as faster,” Lacey said. “As you go faster, you actually feel more in control.

“Every body panel, air intake, and air exhaust was designed to guide in air from the most efficient places and to maximise cooling. That’s partly why the body is so compact, and looks so 'shrink wrapped'.

"The unusual door ducts, from the initial styling sketches, draw air into the cooling circuit. That low body helps air get to the rear wing. The rear deck is extraordinarily low, just like a sports racing car. The extreme teardrop shape of the glasshouse guides more air more efficiently to the rear wing.”

While McLaren points to aero details all over the car, much of the downforce is generated from its enormous rear wing. It can be pushed rearwards by 300mm on a track or 120mm on the road and its angle can be changed by 29 degrees. It also uses a DRS-style system to stall the rear wing to reduce drag and make the P1 slipperier at speed.

“Of course, the McLaren P1 will also have an immensely powerful engine, superb brakes and state of the art suspension controls,” Program Director, Paul Mackenzie said.

“But a major reason for its performance is its downforce and its all-round aerodynamic excellence. They [aero aids] do not just improve stability, handling, road-holding and braking at high speed, they also improve agility and driver confidence at much lower speeds.

"Our goal was to get great levels of downforce at lower speeds, and we have achieved that. It is a major boost to driving enjoyment, and to a driver’s feeling of being in total control,” Mackenzie said.

Read more Paris Motor Show stories at motoring.com.au

See all the photos from the Paris Motor Show at motoring.com.au

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