McLaren W1

Wow, this X-ray image of the McLaren W1’s 3D printed suspension is NSFW

McLaren went to Czinger’s additive manufacturing company Divergent for help with its front suspension setup

This summer the wild V8 hybrid Czinger 21C broke the production car record for cars running up the hill at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. It did so with a time of just 48.82 seconds, and Czinger’s incredible 3D printing work has not gone unnoticed by some of the more established supercar makers.

In fact, at Goodwood boss Kevin Czinger told TG that its manufacturing company Divergent had deals with Bugatti, McLaren, Aston Martin, Mercedes-AMG and two other German and Italian sports car companies.

We saw some of Divergent’s work on the suspension arms of the Bugatti Tourbillon, and although it hasn’t been mentioned yet it sounds like it had a hand in similar bits on the Ferrari F80. It also designed the front upper wishbone, the aero form lower wishbone and the front upright for McLaren’s new W1, and the Brit firm has decided to show off the titanium 3D printing using this incredible X-ray image.

 
Opinion: does anyone really care about the McLaren W1 and Ferrari F80?

The W1 and F80 are two prestigious hypercars, yet the pursuit of more makes them seem somehow predictable, and forgettable

So, now we know. The Holy Trinity of the McLaren P1, LaFerrari and Porsche 918 Spyder is finally delivering a sequel. Albeit without a new entrant from Porsche. Its pure EV concept, the Mission X, seems to have been quietly shelved, perhaps in reaction to the poor sales performance of cars like the Rimac Nevera and Lotus Evija. Let’s call it the Unholy Duality, then. McLaren W1 vs Ferrari F80. How is this one going to play out?

Well, without a V12 screaming to the far side of 9,000rpm, that’s for sure. The Ferrari has adopted a 3.0-litre twin turbocharged V6, plus a front e-axle to create a 4WD hybrid monster. The look is a sort of 1980s view of the future. Brutal, dense and deeply aggressive. The tech is derived from, or at least informed by, the 499P endurance racer. And the result is pretty spectacular. The F80 has 1,183bhp, can accelerate from 0–124mph in 5.7 seconds and is stuck to the road by up to 1,050kg of downforce.

The W1 is equally outrageous. In fact, it has even more power. The 4.0-litre twin turbocharged V8 and radial flux e-motor combine to deliver 1,258bhp. It’s lighter than the Ferrari, too. But as the W1 is RWD the acceleration figures are a shade slower than the F80’s. It produces 1,000kg of downforce. I mean, what doesn’t? When the twin test finally arrives it’s set to be a titanic struggle.

The question is, does anyone care? Don’t get me wrong. The idea of driving a W1 or F80 is thrilling. The performance is mind scrambling and there’s little doubt both will provide an industrial sized shot of adrenaline to the nervous system. But maybe the game has changed. The search for ‘more’ is surely a dead end? Nobody needs to go as fast as a McLaren 750S or Ferrari 296 GTB, let alone these new creations. Performance is a drug, no question. But when you can’t access it for more than a split second on the road, isn’t it a bit of a buzzkill?

 
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