McLaren's P1 hybrid used an electric motor to erase turbo lag
Turbocharged engines hesitate for a moment before the boost arrives. McLaren's P1 solved that by letting an electric motor fill the gap instantly, giving a combined 903 horsepower and a surge to 300 km/h in 16.5 seconds, five and a half seconds quicker than the legendary F1 it succeeded.
After F1 production ended in 1998, McLaren's road-car arm lay dormant until 2010, returning with the 12C in 2011. Early reports described a flagship codenamed Mega Mac meant to rival the Bugatti Veyron, but the company said it had no interest in out-Veyroning the Veyron. Instead, managing director Antony Sheriff said, the aim was the quickest and most rewarding production car on a race circuit. The concept appeared at the 2012 Paris Motor Show, on the F1's 20th anniversary, and the production car debuted at Geneva in 2013. Designer Frank Stephenson took some styling cues from a sailfish he spotted on holiday in Miami.
Power comes from a 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8 making 727 horsepower plus an in-house electric motor adding 177. The driver can deploy the motor manually or let the computers top up torque automatically, giving an effective powerband of nearly 7,000 rpm. A 324-cell lithium-ion pack behind the cabin can be fully charged in two hours and allows at least 10 km of electric-only driving. Racing-derived features include a drag reduction system that flattens the rear wing on straights and a push-to-pass power boost, both operated from buttons on the steering wheel.
Like the F1, it is mid-engined and rear-wheel drive with a carbon-fibre tub, and it generates 600 kg of downforce at 257 km/h. Top speed is electronically limited to 350 km/h. Just 375 were hand-built, one per day by a team of 61, between October 2013 and December 2015. Allocations for the Americas, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East sold out by August 2013, with the United States taking 34 percent of production.
A track-only P1 GTR marked 20 years since the 1995 Le Mans win; 58 were made, rated at 1,000 PS, and specialists Lanzante later converted 27 for road use.
Source: McLaren P1
