- The McLaren W1 is the brand's newest hypercar.
- It's got over 1,200 horsepower, makes a ton of downforce (literally), and looks like a spaceship.
- It's gonna cost a cool $2.1 million, so we hope you've been saving up.
McLaren W1 First Look: The P1's Succesor Is a 1,200+ Horsepower Monster
McLaren's new hypercar is absolutely insane
Every now and then McLaren goes absolutely off the wall. The original recipe for its once-in-a-blue-moon world beater is the F1. Designed by automotive legend Gordon Murray and the top speed record holder for a decade, the McLaren F1 almost instantly cemented itself as a legend. The P1 was a mix of incredible performance and lightweighting that worked in the hybrid powertrain tech we see everywhere now. The new W1 takes lessons from the F1, P1 and every crazy McLaren since and combines them into one of the most no-holds-barred machines we've seen to date.
Enthusiasts will be darn glad to hear this isn't an EV, and McLaren hasn't gone for downsizing either. The twin-turbo flat-plane crank V8 displaces four liters and puts out 903 horsepower by itself. It spins to 9,200 rpm and is augmented by a 337-horsepower electric motor with an integrated motor control unit — a packaging technology that's inspired by IndyCar but with a power density similar to that of an F1 car. The end result is a horsepower peak of 1,241 horsepower and a peak torque figure of 988 lb-ft. Combine that with the W1's light weight (a quoted dry weight of 3,084 pounds, though we all know you need fluids to move), and acceleration is out of this world.
McLaren says the W1 will rocket from 0 to 60 mph in 2.7 seconds, hit 124 mph in 5.8 seconds (a full second faster than the P1), and reach 186 mph in less than 12.7 seconds. Its top speed is a dizzying 217 mph — the same as the P1, it just gets there a whole heck of a lot faster than its predecessor. Oh, and McLaren isn't watering this all down with an electric motor at the front axle either. All that power goes solely to the rear wheels (which are 13.2 inches wide, each) through a dual-clutch transmission with eight forward gears and an electric reverse.
Of course, no new hyper-McLaren would be complete without an excessive amount of time spent in the wind tunnel, and the W1 is no exception. The W1 has spent 350 hours in the wind tunnel (about a third as much time as the McLaren F1 team spent there this year). Like current F1 cars, the "Aerocell" that makes up the body structure of the W1 has been shaped with ground-effect aerodynamics in mind.
Essentially, the W1 directs air underneath the bodywork; as air accelerates from the front of the chassis to the rear, it has the effect of sucking the car to the surface of the road (or, more appropriately, the racetrack). This requires large channels to be built underneath the car to help hoover up that air, and as a result, the seating position in the W1 is fixed to the chassis. Instead of a seat being able to adjust fore and aft, you sit where the car tells you to and the pedals and steering wheel move to meet you.
The attention to detail extends to everything, even the doors. The W1's anhedral doors are hinged from the roof. Why? To optimize the airflow from the front wheel arches into the high-temperature radiators on the rear flanks. Since the airflow is more optimal, the radiators work more efficiently and can therefore be smaller and, you guessed it, lighter. The aero work even extends to the engine bay — the powertrain is inclined 3 degrees to help better accommodate the W1's massive diffuser.
At the front there is an active front wing that can stall to redirect airflow and a huge active wing at the rear. Even though this is a ground-effect-intensive machine, you can't ignore the importance of top-body aero. The rear wing can extend rearward by almost an entire foot — 11.8 inches to be exact. It's one of a number of aerodynamic innovations McLaren said it secured patents for when designing the W1.
The dampers are adaptive based on the drive mode you select, and some of the suspension assembly at the front is 3D-printed titanium to help reduce weight where possible. The rear suspension uses a "Z-bar," a high-end piece of suspension technology that the company has been refining since the introduction of the MP4-12C. It allows the rear wheels to react to bumps independently of each other but controls the vertical forces that a (literal) ton of downforce may have on the rear suspension. There are also active drop links at the rear to help control heaving forces.
Race mode lowers the suspension by more than an inch to help get the car as close to the ground as possible (to maximize those ground-effect aerodynamics). In Race mode, the W1 can make up to 772 pounds of downforce at the front and 1,433 pounds at the rear — that means total downforce is up to 2,205 pounds during cornering, not just in a straight line.
Both the braking and the steering systems are hydraulic — the reason that's worth mentioning at all is that many of these systems in modern supercars have become electronic, which rids them of the precious feedback so many drivers yearn for. The feeling of the steering wheel working against a hydraulic pump as cornering loads build at the front axle is what many enthusiasts refer to as "steering feel." The same reaction to the pressure building in the brake pedal is what allows drivers to get the most out of their cars, and so the message is clear: McLaren wants the W1 to be a tactile machine, one you get to feel, not just hear or see.
The brakes are huge 15.4-inch carbon-ceramic rotors at the front and the rear (disc sizes are staggered in most cars). The main difference between the front and rear is that the calipers at the front of the W1 have six pistons while the ones at the rear have four. While carbon-ceramics yield the most benefits for their ability to reduce heat buildup after many braking events and don't always lead to the shortest stopping distances, McLaren says that even one panic stop from 62 mph takes just 95 feet (which would be one of the shortest stops we've ever recorded should McLaren let us strap our testing gear to it).
All of this excellence doesn't come cheap; the McLaren W1 will cost a cool $2.1 million, and that's before you get to the endless customization possibilities prospective owners will have through the McLaren Special Operations program. Just 399 will be made, so if you ever get the chance to lay your eyes on one, you better get your camera out quick.