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McLaren Reveals Sports Series Carbon Fiber Monocoque Tub

Expected to debut this year at the New York Auto Show, the McLaren Sports Series could stand to change the sportscar market. If only it had something the Porsche 911 doesn't.
McLaren Sports Series 14 photos
Photo: McLaren
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How about a carbon fiber chassis? Yeah, that will do it. The British company presented today its first photo of the Sports Series' body shell, made out of the lightest and coolest material we have.

No details were provided, but they did talk the big talk, saying in their Facebook post that "a carbon fiber chassis has been at the heart of all McLaren race and road cars since 1981 when we pioneered the technology in Formula1. This DNA will be present in the McLaren Sports Series with its unique carbon chassis – a true McLaren for the sports car enthusiast."

Of course, carbon fiber isn't as exotic as it used to be in 1981. Nowadays, it's used as for the trim of most performance autos and the Alfa Romeo 4C has a chassis made of the stuff. Mind you the Italian car starts at around $55,000, which is probably half what the McLaren costs.

Speculation suggests the name of the car was switched from P13 to Sports Series because McLaren plans a range of models, including a convertible and one with four seats.

What we do know for sure is that power will come from a twin-turbo 3.8-liter V8, like the one in the MP4-12C and the 650S. Only difference is it will produce less power, which McLaren still claims is well over 500 hp. That should be enough for a lightweight 911 Turbo fighter.
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About the author: Mihnea Radu
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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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