Photos and Passenger Ride in a P1

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What can I say, an incredible experience.

Via a few little bits of magic I headed North to Paintshield today where the second UK McLaren P1 was have paint protection film applied.



The car was sat majestically alongside a Maserati MC Stradale and a BMW M6 Gran Coupe, as of course we're coming to get used to, it just looks so small and low compared to 'normal' cars.











I enjoyed spending time taking in the detail and incredible design of the car. It's actually the 7th I've now seen but each time I seem to be a little more mesmerised by it!











It interested me how much the Volcano Orange changes colour out in natural light:





So what was left; well firstly a huge thanks to the owner who accepted my request for a quick run around the block in the passenger seat. The car was still incredibly new to him so there was a lot of learning to be done, but in a nut shell some of the things we discussed:

- car is completely run-in on delivery; not just the engine but also brakes, gearbox etc

- e-mode is very strange, obviously goes silent except for road noise, engine kicks back in with immediate awesome response

- DRS and IPAS are interesting prospects

- car sits incredibly flat around corners

- it accelerates like you can't imagine

- noise in the cabin is awesome, all the turbo whooshes and flutters coming from behind you

- seats hug you very tightly

- displays and controls very well thought out

I gather this might be of interest to some on PH:

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darreni said:

The P1 has some great details, but whats going on with the wheels? They look lost in the arches & the ride height? Does it have a front & rear lifting system?

The car raises and lowers for different modes. It's shown here in the highest setting for paint protection film application where naturally high and gaps around the side is most helpful.

In race mode it sits so low that the tyres go inside the arches!

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ForzaGilles said:

LHD but UK registered?

The P1 is LHD only sadly

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DB89 said:

Some bad driving at one point in your video, is that why you haven't posted it up? I couldn't bring myself to drive a P1 like that with so much traffic.

There is one bit of aggressive driving, but to be honest if you are a road user in the UK you'll see worse every day; god help you driving in Italy or Spain.

However, no, I just don't post the videos on Pistonheads because I'm banned from doing so.

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DB89 said:

Hopefully you can do the same with a 918/LAF in the future.

Believe me I hope so too! I'll be doing my best as always to make some content about them and try and show the unique features on each of these cars.

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wtdoom said:

I wouldn't let them near my paper aeroplane let alone a p1...

For what it's worth I'm not entirely sure EVO did go near that car; the photos are from his collection of it at the factory and the text is written just as per if the info was sent over?

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You can see how the thread read incorrectly based on the previous comments!

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wtdoom said:

Thank you for the clarification matey .

For the record I meant ventureshield not EVO . The EVO chaps are spiffing fellows and I'd have no hesitation in lending them a p1 ( if I had one ) or a paper aeroplane

So Ventureshield, not Paintshield. Now very confused!