McLaren's presence at the Paris motor show was limited to a 'behind the scenes' appearance of the new 12C for French media and potential customers, which is our excuse for missing this fabulous set of pictures issued as part of the company's show news release...
The pics were taken during recent 'extreme weather testing' in Arizona, which is the latest round of an intensive programme that began in 2007, and during which more than 40 prototype vehicles have been built to undertake real world testing.
The latest iteration of 12C concept-phase vehicles is codenamed Validation Prototype (VP), they tell us, and McLaren VP and XP (Experimental Prototype - the previous phase of 12C concept car) 12Cs are being continuously tested in the UK and across Europe.
With temperatures peaking at 46 degrees Celsius (115 degrees Fahrenheit), a 28-strong team of engineers, technicians and vehicle development partners ran two VP cars and one XP car day and night over three weeks on a mixture of driving surfaces between Lake Havasu City - where the team was based - and the town of Flagstaff, further west in Arizona.
The 12C prototypes began testing on a dynamic handling platform and high speed circuit at a proving ground near Yucca, and then completed the programme at high altitude on public roads in Flagstaff.
Pleasingly, the guys also decided to record the event for posterity with an 'official snapper' - these images are the result.