This is the McLaren W1, McLaren’s bonkers successor to the F1 and P1 hyper cars.

This is the McLaren W1, McLaren’s bonkers successor to the F1 and P1 hyper cars.

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The time has come for McLaren to unveil a car that has always defied or redefined the performance benchmarks. This is the McLaren W1, the successor to McLaren’s iconic F1 and P1 hypercars. There’s so much more to the W1 than just the headline numbers but let’s start with those so that you can attempt to digest them as you consider and learn more about what McLaren has done to achieve them.

The powertrain is a hybrid mix of a 4.0-litre, twin-turbo, V8 coupled to a radial flux electric motor that sends all power to the rear wheels. How much power you ask? A whopping 938kW and 1340Nm….to the rear wheels. Acceleration times eclipse most other hypercars with figures as follows: 0 – 100km/h in 2.7-seconds. 0 – 200km/h in 5.8-seconds. O – 300km/h in 12.7-seconds and on to a limited top end of 350km/h.

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Beyond the powertrain, McLaren’s significant obsession with aerodynamics and the bullying of air makes its way into the W1 through a complex arrangement of design-aggressive and active aero systems. From the actual monocoque or mono-cell as McLaren calls it, the key fixation is on air flow and aerodynamics. The floor and footwell sit higher now improving the flow of air under the car. The seats, the front subframe and the roof structure are all integrated into the mono-cell, and made from a pre-cured carbon fibre that makes it far better to use in detailed application like this. It’s the stuff of Formula 1 cars.  

McLaren’s active front and rear wing mechanisms have been patented, such is their complexity and performance. In thoroughbred race mode, the front wing can send air rearwards to aid in rear balance and cooling, while another part of the wing provides up to 350kg of downforce on the front. At the rear, a highly complex wing that uses electric motors to rise, lower and rotate, acts as a downforce contributor as well as an air-brake and drag-reduction system a la Formula 1 again.

The suspension trickery also borrows learnings from F1. Various damper and suspension settings abound – these include Road, Sport, Race and Race+, each of which up the ante in terms of roadholding and agility. In Race modes, the McLaren W1 will drop its ride height by 37mm at the front and 17mm at the rear, all in a bid to ensure optimal airflow under the car to put that rear diffuser and wing combination to work. 650kg of downforce at the rear is the result of this and that makes the W1 simply staggering on tracks. Part of the W1’s performance is its centre of gravity and balance, all meticulously planned in how the powertrain, the e-motor and even the 8-speed DC transmission is mounted. The front suspension mounts are integrated into the chassis and the wishbones are 3D printed in titanium.

McLaren says the W1 was created as a road car with excellent on-track behaviour. Whether this is true will be evaluated in due time but the W1 is a testament to McLaren engineers sparing no expense or shortcut in developing yet another boundary-pushing mega car. In many respects, it seems the W1 has been created with the learning from the company’s own F1 exploits yet also improving on, or learning from the aero knowledge of some other new hypercars.

The W1, if anything, looks less aggressive or extreme than the P1 that it replaces. It’s more in-line with a 750S and Artura in terms of overall body aesthetic yet, on paper at least, it is the most extreme and the most powerful production McLaren EVER. It’s anhedral doors open upwards, the gullwing effect more a cause of aerodynamics than simply just a talking point to show your friends.

The W1 will be produced to a limited run of 399 units at a cost of R46-Million.

**A more in-depth report on the W1 will be out in the next issue of TopGear South Africa magazine.

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