McLaren F1 inspires company's new supercar
These days we're used to being drip-fed information on exciting new cars, as the manufacturers - understandably - want to glean every last ounce of press coverage they can, but not McLaren. Other than Ron Dennis 'letting slip' the name of his company's new supercar only days ago, precious little else has been known about the new McLaren MP4-12C. Until now.
Though obviously taking inspiration for its design from the McLaren F1, the new car features state of the art technology throughout. The innovation starts with the 12C's one-piece carbon fibre chassis - a world first - and continues with the car's Proactive Chassis Control system that should allow handing suitable for the track, while offering a more comfortable road experience than we're used to from our supercars.
McLaren is particularly proud of the fact that every single component of its new supercar has been made specifically for it. That includes a 3.8-litre, twin-turbocharged V8 engine, which produces about 600bhp and 443lb.ft of torque (600Nm). Channelling all that to the rear wheels is a dual-clutch transmission McLaren calls the Seamless Shift Gearbox.
From behind the wheel, the driver selects gears with a gearshift rocker, as used in Formula One cars. It differs from most road car systems in that, along with 'pull left to go down a gear, pull right to go up' functionality, the driver can push the opposite side too and it features 'Pre-Cog' allowing the driver to partially move the paddle, which has the effect of speeding up the next gearchange by allowing the system to ready itself.
Unlike the three-seat McLaren F1, the 12C is a strict two-seater, though its instrumentation layout and fancy dihedral doors take inspiration from its predecessor. The new car's technology is on a different league though, allowing the driver to customise the car's engine, transmission and chassis settings to his liking or the road conditions.
If all of that sounds like just your thing, you may be disappointed to hear that the 12C is not yet in production and in fact, won't go on sale until 2011. That explains why final performance, emissions and economy figures have yet to be published and why we've been told that it'll cost in the region of £125,000 - £175,000. You can bet on it being closer to the higher of those two numbers though, and we wouldn't bet against it being worth every penny.
