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McLaren P1 Taken to 205 MPH at Vmax

Most supercars and of course their rarer brothers, the hypercars, have top speeds in excess of 200 miles per hour (322 km/h). Now, that's great for publicity and sales, but there aren't a lot of places in the world where you can achieve that sort of speed, legally or illegally.
McLaren P1 1 photo
Photo: screenshot from Youtube
If you're in Britain, a good place to start is the Vmax race, held on an empty stretch of airfield that's long enough to reach the 200 mph market. Fresh off McLaren's assembly line, this P1 owner decided to take his car to 205 mph (330 km/h) during a high-speed drag strip run.

The P1 is going up against a Litchfield LM850 Nissan GT-R, packing nearly as much power as the McLaren. The speed achieved at Vmax comes tantalizingly close to the official numbers claimed by McLaren: 217 mph or 350 km/h.

The reason for this amazing level of performance is a mid-mounted 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8 petrol engine and an electric motor that give a combined output of 916PS (903 bhp) and a maximum torque figure of 900Nm. Now, that's not as much as a Bugatti, but this is a much lighter, more nimble car.

Taking a Bugatti Veyron to the ragged edge is actually quite boring. But the P1 pitches, shakes and judders – it feels dangerous. The British hypercar is almost like a watered down version of a race car, not quite as violent as the old F1, but not as refined as the MP4-12C.

The video is absolutely amazing, but it also holds a few secrets. In all of the races, it sounds like the P1 isn't using launch control. Could it be that the P1 is still being nursed like a new car should? Check it out for yourselves and let us know what you think.

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About the author: Mihnea Radu
Mihnea Radu profile photo

Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida.
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