McLaren W1

Spend 17 seconds watching the McLaren W1 go from Road to Race mode and back

The most advanced McLaren hypercar features one helluva party trick

“The aerodynamic platform of W1 is the most advanced ever in a McLaren road car,” explains, well, McLaren.

This new hybrid V8 platform – which at its core features the ‘Aerocell’ monocoque – was subjected to 350 hours in the wind tunnel, testing some 5,000 points. If we’re being silly, we’re immediately imagining this wind tunnel permanently etching a grin onto a poor engineer’s face.

Of course there’s nothing silly about the W1’s performance, stats or its complex aero. It’s a ground effect philosophy, where much of the literal tonne of total downforce possible is generated by the underbody. Probably why it’s got a very clean silhouette.

We know McLaren has shaped and honed this W1 for the road, and then tweaked it for the track – arguably the better way round – but the way it transforms from its Road mode to Race is quite special.


 
Too bad Rushil Singh wont be buying one, dude is sitting in jail.
 
McLaren’s new W1 flagship costs R45 million, produces 938kW and weighs less than a Golf GTI

More than 11 years after ripping the covers off its P1 flagship hypercar, McLaren has unveiled its successor, the W1.

Just 399 examples of the W1 will be produced, at a price tag of £2 million British pounds (or R45 million at today’s exchange rate) but don’t bother allocating those lotto winnings just yet as they’ve all been spoken for.

As you would expect, McLaren’s information pack for the new hypercar uses the word “most” more than just a few times, but very importantly the W1 is the most powerful road car that the British sports car maker has ever conceived.

At its heart is a brand new V8 hybrid powertrain that thunders out 938kW and 1,340Nm, allowing it to surge from 0-100km/h in a claimed 2.7 seconds and to 300km/h in 12.7 seconds, which is less than what your average compact SUV needs to get to 100..

 
How does the McLaren W1 control 1,258bhp using just its rear wheels?

The newest supercar on the block offers a staggering power-to-weight ratio of 899bhp/tonne. Yeesh

The new McLaren W1's performance stats are wild. It's a full three seconds faster than the Senna around Nardo. It goes from 0-62mph in 2.7 seconds. It generates 1,258bhp. And... it uses just the rear wheels to control all that power. Right now you're probably thinking 'how in the Jeff does it do that?'

The answer is, er, not straightforward. It can however be simplified into three key areas: deploying serious suspension tech, changing the angles of stuff to create an absurd amount of downforce, and giving the W1 some serious stopping power. Oh, and making the thing super lightweight.

Looking initially at that wild rear-end package, we're told the powertrain has been angled by three degrees to accommodate the high-downforce rear-end diffuser. That pulls in air – directed under the car from the front-wing, actuated by two e-motors – and minimises drag.

Then there's the 'Active Long Tail' wing powered by four e-motors. They send that rear wing 300mm back, helping to create up to 1,000kg of downforce – 350kg on the front and an enormous 650kg on the back. Since the car is only 1,399kg, the road is to the car like a Dyson vacuum is to dust. Suck your cheeks in hard enough and you get a barely fractional sense of the pressure the Aerocell body is under.

 
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