Strip the McLaren P1 back to its specification sheet and the character is already there: 3799 cc twin-turbocharged M838TQ V8, 916 PS (combined), 179 PS. Mclaren built from 2013 to 2015, as electrification stopped being an experiment and the crossover took every market. Frank Stephenson / Paul Howse / Rob Melville / Simon Lacey (engineer) / Simon Lacey drew it.
The background
The McLaren P1 (codenamed P12) is a flagship sports car produced by British marque McLaren Automotive. Styled by American car designer Frank Stephenson, it is the second installment in McLaren's Ultimate Series after the McLaren F1. Considered to be the spiritual successor to the F1, the P1 was one of the first high performance sports cars to be introduced incorporating hybrid technology; the Porsche 918 Spyder having begun taking orders prior to the P1 and the LaFerrari introduced alongside it. First shown as a concept on the 20th anniversary of the F1 at the 2012 Paris Motor Show, the P1 made its debut at the 2013 Geneva International Motor Show.
In similar fashion to the F1, the P1 is mid-engined, rear wheel drive, and has a carbon fibre monocoque. Stephenson drew inspiration for parts of the car from a sailfish he saw when on holiday in Miami. In all, 375 units were produced, with several special editions such as the non-road legal P1 GTR and P1 LM among others having smaller production runs. Several pre-production prototypes utilised by McLaren for testing were later refurbished, modified and sold to customers.
The engineering
Power comes from 3799 cc twin-turbocharged M838TQ V8; 916 PS (combined), 179 PS is the published figure. It weighs 1490 kg. Work it out per tonne and you get about 615 horsepower — hypercar territory, where the limiting factor is the tyre, not the engine. It shifts through a 7-speed Graziano dual-clutch. The layout matters: the engine sits behind the driver and ahead of the rear axle, which puts the mass in the middle of the car and is why mid-engined cars change direction the way they do. The wheelbase is 2670 mm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Where it sits
Its family tree is legible: it took over from the McLaren F1; its successor was the McLaren W1; assembly was at Woking, Surrey, England, United Kingdom. Its contemporaries in the catalogue — the Lamborghini Aventador, the Porsche 918 Spyder, the Lamborghini Veneno — show what else the money bought that year. Its Mclaren stablemates include the McLaren M15 and the McLaren M16.