Almost 13 years after the P1 redefined what a road car could do, McLaren has spent the last five years developing its replacement. The W1 continues the same mantra, but with modifications gleaned from decades of track time. Production begins next year, with all 399 sold out before the first wheel rotates. They cost roughly $2.1 million each and offer to combine everyday usage with lap times that would embarrass Senna. Recent testing in Arizona’s scorching sun has pushed these prototypes to their limits to say the least.
Two weeks in the desert was the final hot-weather testing for the W1. Engineers flew out two bare-bones prototypes, stripped of camo, and put them through road loops and track sessions in temperatures that topped 104 degrees Fahrenheit. Over those days they racked up over 3,100 miles with hundreds of hours behind the wheel. Every bump from the curbs, every G-force under braking, every full-throttle pull sent data back to the UK. There teams pored over the numbers through the night thanks to the 8 hour time difference and turned each day into a non-stop loop of tweaks and validations.
Power comes from a setup McLaren built from the ground up: a 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 and a compact electric motor, battery and control unit that together produce 1,258 horsepower and 988 lb ft of torque. All of it goes to the rear wheels only, a choice that keeps weight down but demands precision in every component. From standstill the W1 hits 62mph in 2.7 seconds, then 124mph in 3.1 seconds. Top end is a blistering 217mph and McLaren managed to push one to 186mph in just 12.7 seconds – that’s actually quicker than the Speedtail – 3 whole seconds quicker to be precise. They put it through its paces on the Nardo test loop and found it lapped 3 seconds quicker than the Senna, a track car that is lighter but was missing the excitement of that hybrid power.
Vikram Shah, a vehicle development engineer who was on site at the time, called the desert a “torture chamber” and with good reason – the blistering heat was baking the asphalt and then it was the cumulative punishment that really took its toll: lap after lap of brutal cornering, harsh braking and then just blast after blast down the straight. Shah and his team were making sure to put the prototypes through their paces, pushing them to flex point after flex point. The W1 took it all in its stride and emerged looking pretty solid actually – in fact systems were running pretty cool and consistently for what they were trying to do. Even the hybrid battery, a 1.4kWh pack good for about a mile of sneaky quiet running, handled it all without breaking a sweat – the immersion cooling in it shrugged the heat off pretty easily.
The W1’s got a carbon fiber backbone, with a bit of a new technology called the Aerocell monocoque, which integrates the seats into the frame – this all adds up to a trim dry weight of 3,084 pounds. Those gullwing doors that open up aren’t just a bit of flair, but are actually there to improve airflow over the front wheels and into the side radiators. On the inside, visibility is pretty great thanks to McLaren’s smallest pillars so far and carbon fibre sun visors that are a mere 3mm thick. You’ll find magnesium wheels and bespoke Pirelli tires in there too all wrapped up in a package that’s been optimised for grip rather than drag.
