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McLaren P1 Races McLaren 650S Spider in Full Highway Traffic

McLaren P1 Races McLaren 650S Spider 1 photo
Photo: screenshot from Youtube
The McLaren P1 and the 650S, be it a Spider or a Coupe, may share the twin-turbo 3.8-liter V8, but the hypercar status of the first takes it far, far away from already stellar performance level of the 650S.
Of course, some of you will want to know just how big the gap is. The video below gives us a pretty good answer. While we don’t condone racing on a busy highway, the fact that these two drivers decided to battle, now allows us to observe the exact performance difference between their Woking machines.

On paper

However, we want to discuss the on-paper data before moving on to the clip. The idea is that the difference between the two is not that big as low speeds, while it becomes more and more obvious as the velocity increases.

For instance, in the 0 to 62 mph (100 km/h) sprint, we have a difference of 0.3 seconds. If we are to talk about the 0 to 124 mph (200 km/h) run, the gap expands to a full second. And discussing the 0 to 186 mph (300 km/h) stunt brings us a difference of under 7 seconds.

Interestingly enough, moving on to the 25-87 mph sprint (40-140 km/h), the two show an identical figure of 3.4 seconds. As for the 50 to 75 mph run (80-120 km/h), the conclusion is the same.

In the real world

Moving on to the real life experience in the footage below, the two drivers spend a couple of seconds working to match their speed and then they both weld those lightweight throttle pedals to the floor. We won't ruin the fun by telling you what exactly goes on in the video, but the few seconds of sprinting that follow are totally worth watching.

PS: the Porsche 911 behind the P1 was not happy about this charade.

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About the author: Andrei Tutu
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In his quest to bring you the most impressive automotive creations, Andrei relies on learning as a superpower. There's quite a bit of room in the garage that is this aficionado's heart, so factory-condition classics and widebody contraptions with turbos poking through the hood can peacefully coexist.
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