McLaren Teases the W1, the Hybrid Supercar That Will Succeed the P1
A new dawn for McLaren supercars is fast approaching.
The British marque released the first teaser for the successor to the P1 earlier this week. We won’t have to wait too much longer for the full reveal, either. The company plans to unveil the finished vehicle, which will be named the W1, early next month.
As of now, we know next to nothing about the company’s latest model except for what it will be called. On Wednesday, the company released a video about its 1 cars—a very select group that includes the iconic F1, the P1, and, soon, the W1—that included a few quick peeks at the vehicle. The short clip was short on detail, but if a quick shot of the company’s Formula 1 driver Lando Norris giggling is anything to go by, it’ll be fun to drive.
Plenty of enthusiasts outside the automaker’s Woking headquarters hold the 1 cars in high regard. Because of this, there has been plenty of rumor and speculation about what to expect of its latest model. On Thursday, a report in Automotive News claimed that the new model would be cross between the P1 and the Senna. It will supposedly feature an all-new V-8 engine paired with hybrid technology similar to that used by the company’s Formula 1 team. The potent setup will produce up to 1,200 horses, while still being significantly lighter than the hardware used by the brand’s other hybrids. Additionally, the car will feature an advanced aero system meant to provide plenty of oxygen for its internal combustion mill.
Regardless of what the finished vehicle looks like and is capable of doing, it has an awful lot to live up to. The F1 and P1 are two of the greatest performance vehicles of the last half-century. The former, which was conceived of and designed by the legendary Gordon Murray, created the blueprint for the modern-day supercar when it debuted in 1992. The latter, meanwhile, may not have been as much of a shock to the system as its predecessor, but it proved that the marque remained at the vanguard of performance engineering when it launched in 2013.
McLaren will pull back the curtain on the W1 on Sunday, October 6. Why then, you may ask. That will mark 50 years since the company won its first Formula 1 constructor’s championship and Emerson Fittipaldi won the driver’s championship. What better time to reveal the closest road-going equivalent the brand has to a race car?
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