Thursday 5th September 2013

McLaren P1 again: Time For Tea?

Warm out there ain't it - don't worry though, your McLaren P1's been tested for that...

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PH enjoyed the hospitality of McLaren earlier in the week at the preview for Rush. Given the amount of product placement in a mainstream Hollywood movie and focus on McLaren's racing history and long-standing on- and off-track rivalry with Ferrari it reinforces it was no wonder marketing boss Greg Levine was looking happy by the time the credits rolled.

Before the screening we were told the 3,000th 12C had just been produced the previous day in Woking as the first production P1s are close to delivery to customers. Test driver Chris Goodwin was on hand to share some testing anecdotes about the P1 too, saying it was faster and had more downforce than the GT3 racers and that Ron had seemingly plucked the seven-minute 'ring lap target out of thin air. He didn't say whether or not they'd achieved it but P1s have been busy at the Nordschleife of late...

Not a bad week in which to be celebrating a 50th birthday then.

McLaren won't be joining the fray at Frankfurt next week, preferring the more intimate surroundings of Geneva and most of the McLaren folk we spoke with glad to be able to attend as spectators rather than exhibitors. That hasn't stopped the P1 hype machine though, our complicity therewith displayed here with the latest in a series of testing videos McLaren has drip-fed via its YouTube channel over the past months. And though we've had a while to get used to the look of the thing it's losing none of its drama or impact as production of the 375 customer cars approaches.

See here...

 

 

 

 

[graeme4130]

Looks warm
I somehow can't take the self produced 'testing' videos seriously though. Being the marketing machine mcLaren are, this just shows a load of gratuitous car shots on empty roads. I'd personally rather see the details of the testing if I was to come away from the video impressed in any way...

Do it like Ferrari do and show some clips of their F1 drivers going nuts around a track in it with lots of noise and smoke if you want to impress how good a car it is

Edited by graeme4130 on Thursday 5th September 15:52

[tony993]

Any more news on the sub 12C model? I am far more interested in that.

[drewbagz]

Saw a black prototype driving through Richmond yesterday evening. The pictures really don't do it's menace any justice. I would like to say it sounded fab as i rushed to get my window down as it went past but must presume it was in EV mode.

[Kenzle]

The more I see of the P1 the more I'm warming to its design - the rear especially is beautiful...

[luke111s]

Euromillions ticket bought

[RacerMike]

Kenzle said:

The more I see of the P1 the more I'm warming to its design - the rear especially is beautiful...

It's a shame that in the 'road' suspension setting it resembles a 4x4!

[Midgster]

Seen 2 over the last few weeks round Woking, one yellow and black and one all black, they don't wow me in pictures but they are amazing in the flesh.

[RSoovy4]

OK, that's it. I want one.

[Mermaid]

Mission accomplished - that's got me worried.

[Alfa159Ti]

Pic of the week surely?!

[Richyboy]

Euro lottery ticket bought.

[toppstuff]

Interesting to read that the 3000th 12c has now been made. That's a lot of cars and a great achievement from a standing start. I figured it would happen as it is only recently that proper global distribution has been built. Very impressive. I'm not sure Ferrari have made many more 458s and I don't think Gallardos are made in those numbers.

I think Mclaren are pitching for Porsche.

[Krikkit]

toppstuff said:

Interesting to read that the 3000th 12c has now been made. That's a lot of cars and a great achievement from a standing start. I figured it would happen as it is only recently that proper global distribution has been built. Very impressive. I'm not sure Ferrari have made many more 458s and I don't think Gallardos are made in those numbers.

I think Mclaren are pitching for Porsche.

Given that Porsche sell over 120,000 vehicles a year, I'm not sure they can aim that high yet.

Ferrari produced 7318 cars in 2012, and a large proportion of those (>3000) will be the 458 - it was aiming to shift 1500-2000 458 Spiders alone, similar again for the coupé no doubt. Still, an impressive number of cars sold for a relatively fledgling operation (the road car side of McLaren).

[Ozzie Osmond]

toppstuff said:

Interesting to read that the 3,000th 12c has now been made.

Impressive. It took Lotus 30 years to sell 10,000 Esprits!

Mind you, I wouldn't be surprised if the 12c has outsold the entire Lotus range since launch.

I drove behind a white P1 a few weeks ago - very stingy rear window but impressive swooping tail.

[loudlashadjuster]

toppstuff said:

Interesting to read that the 3000th 12c has now been made. That's a lot of cars and a great achievement from a standing start. I figured it would happen as it is only recently that proper global distribution has been built. Very impressive. I'm not sure Ferrari have made many more 458s and I don't think Gallardos are made in those numbers.

I think Mclaren are pitching for Porsche.

The ever-reliable Wikipedia says just over 4,000 13,000 Gallardos have been sold in ten years, so 3,000 12Cs from a standing start in less than two is extremely impressive, to put it mildly.



Edit: Pedant hat on, but surely the video should have said that the P1 is meant to be the "ultimate drivers' car", not the "ultimate driver's car"?

If not, who is this ultimate driver and why are you developing a car specifically for him/her?

Edited by loudlashadjuster on Thursday 5th September 16:45 because I'm blind

Edited by loudlashadjuster on Thursday 5th September 18:45

[E38Ross]

RacerMike said:

It's a shame that in the 'road' suspension setting it resembles a 4x4!

You what? By 4x4 I'm guessing you don't mean a car with 4wd and mean something like an SUV? if so, could you post a 4x4 it resembles? And don't just post anything that's black with 4 wheels and say it looks similar.

The P1 looks like nothing I've ever seen on the road before!

[daveco]

Funnily enough this is the first video of the car where I've literally gone 'wow' in my head.

[Fittster]

Krikkit said:

toppstuff said:

Interesting to read that the 3000th 12c has now been made. That's a lot of cars and a great achievement from a standing start. I figured it would happen as it is only recently that proper global distribution has been built. Very impressive. I'm not sure Ferrari have made many more 458s and I don't think Gallardos are made in those numbers.

I think Mclaren are pitching for Porsche.

Given that Porsche sell over 120,000 vehicles a year, I'm not sure they can aim that high yet.

Ferrari produced 7318 cars in 2012, and a large proportion of those (>3000) will be the 458 - it was aiming to shift 1500-2000 458 Spiders alone, similar again for the coupé no doubt. Still, an impressive number of cars sold for a relatively fledgling operation (the road car side of McLaren).

How do you know that all 3000 have been sold?

[epom]

Kenzle said:

The more I see of the P1 the more I'm warming to its design - the rear especially is beautiful...

Same here, it really is beginning to grow on me. Can't wait to see a test.

[Krikkit]

loudlashadjuster said:

The ever-reliable Wikipedia says only just over 4,000 Gallardos have been sold in ten years, so 3,000 12Cs from a standing start in less than two is extremely impressive, to put it mildly.

Interesting! Not sure where Wiki gets its numbers, but Lambocars reckons on ~11,000. In fact, Lamborghini celebrated building #5000 in 2007.