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McLaren Speedtail Races F-35 Lightning Fighter Jet, There Can Only Be One Winner

Taking inspiration from an older episode of Top Gear from the Clarkson-Hammond-May era, the current show's formula decided to race a no-nonsense supercar against a fighter jet. This time around, we’re not dealing with Richard Hammond in a Buggati Veyron versus the twin-engine Eurofighter Typhoon, oh no! We’re treated to Chris Harris in the McLaren Speedtail versus the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II.
FULL FILM: McLaren Speedtail vs F35 Fighter Jet | Top Gear 21 photos
Photo: BBC / Top Gear on YouTube
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To be more precise, the aircraft is an F-35B or the U.S. Marine Corps version of the Lightning. The B is the shortest of three available configurations and also features the smallest combat radius on internal fuel for two particular reasons.

First of all, we’re talking about STOVL or a short take-off and vertical landing aircraft. It’s the only version of the Lightning that call pull these tricks, reminiscent of the Harrier Jump Jet. The F-35A features conventional landing and take-off for the U.S. Air Force while the F-35C is a carrier-based design for the U.S. Navy.

The Macca, on the other hand, is the fastest street-legal production vehicle to come out of Woking. Everyone was expecting the three-seat Speedtail to exceed the top speed of the F1 from the 1990s, and McLaren certainly succeeded in doing so thanks to a twin-turbo V8 hybrid powertrain that tops at 250 miles per hour.

The question is, does the Speedtail have the legs on the F-35B in a race? Given that the fighter jet pulls 7 G in the corners, flying a military aircraft is a little more extreme than being on the raggedy edge of grip in a 1,035-horsepower supercar.

Instead of spilling the beans, we’ll only mention that the McLaren accelerates quicker in a drag race to 150-ish miles per hour. After that velocity, well, you can obviously tell which of these two superlative machines has an obvious advantage.

On the other hand, the F-35B has a harder time in the corners because, you know, flying is a totally different affair from driving a car. The pilot has an even harder time trying to stay on course, but still, the race does look fun for both parties.

As an added bonus, the second clip is the one we’ve mentioned earlier with Hammond in the Veyron against the Eurofighter, first aired in October 2007.

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About the author: Mircea Panait
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After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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