No less than 1,050 PS (1,036 horsepower), 5,137 millimeters from nose to tail, seating for three, 403 km/h (250 mph), all for £1.75 million plus taxes. This, ladies and gentlemen, is the fastest McLaren ever built for the road!
Codenamed BP23, the Speedtail shares the 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 with the 720S from the Super Series. But the hyper-GT from the Ultimate Series is also a hybrid, which means that zero to 300 km/h (186 mph) is achievable in 12.8 seconds. The teardrop-shaped car tips the scale at 1,430 kilograms (3,153 pounds; dry).
McLaren should’ve premiered the Speedtail tomorrow, but the Woking-based automaker decided to speed things up because of a handful of leaked pics. On the visual level, did you notice the front-wheel static aero-covers?
Those are made from carbon fiber, and if you look at the Speedtail once again, you’ll also observe that McLaren went forward with two video cameras instead of side mirrors. Together with the active ailerons at the rear, the car embodies aerodynamic excellence.
“McLaren has never built a vehicle like the Speedtail before. As our first hyper-GT, the Speedtail is the ultimate McLaren road car; a fusion of art and science that combines an astonishing maximum speed with an iconic central-driving position and a truly pioneering approach to bespoke personalization,” says chief executive officer Mike Flewitt.
The first of 18 new models and derivates that McLaren will introduce as part of the Track25 plan comes with carbon-ceramic brakes and aluminum active suspension. The Velocity Active Chassis Control lowers the Speedtail by 35 millimeters at speed, translating to a height of 1,120 millimeters.
As the successor to the F1 and P1, the Speedtail also knows how to entertain the passengers thanks to the three-seat cockpit design. Only the seat in the middle is made to the measure of the owner. The other two seats, meanwhile, are integral to the carbon-fiber monocoque structure.
Although we were expecting the Speedtail for the 2019 model year, McLaren confirms that first deliveries will take place at the beginning of 2020. 106 examples will ever be made, and all of them have been sold.
Our question for those lucky 106 owners is simple: Could you live with the transmission's buttons above your head, next to the dome lights?
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. Full profile
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