"We are not launching a new car. We are launching a new car company," says Antony Sheriff, the managing director of McLaren Automotive. It is Sheriff's mission to finally make McLaren a genuine automotive company, and not just one of the leading car manufacturers in Formula 1 racing. The 2011 McLaren MP4-12C is the fruit of his labors.
McLaren not only wants to beat Ferrari on the racetrack, it wants to beat the Italian carmaker on the street as well. And to do it, McLaren has created an extraordinary expression of racing technology in a supercar for the street.
Shown to us in private at the futuristic McLaren Technology Centre (MTC) in Woking, England, the car has been known secretly as P11. This is the car that McLaren would rather have built than the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren, which indeed is still in production nearby in McLaren's manufacturing facility. Sheriff says the template for the MP4-12C has actually been the McLaren F1, the midengine supercar powered by a BMW V12 that was built between 1993 and '98.
Like the McLaren F1, the 2011 McLaren MP4-12C is meant to be the foremost expression of the automotive technology of its time, an obsessive expression of pure performance. At the same time, the MP4-12C is also supposed to be more accessible than the million-dollar F1 sports car, both in its $250,000 price tag and in the way it drives. Deliveries are expected to begin in early 2011 and McLaren intends to build 1,000 examples in its first year of production.
As always, McLaren is not short of ambition.
The Look of Performance
We're deep within MTC in an underground lair that resembles a bat cave. A wireless gizmo is summoned, something is pressed and a screen retracts to reveal a two-seat coupe painted in the orange hue made famous by the McLaren Can-Am racing cars of the 1960s. At first glance it looks disappointingly generic. The basic proportions are instantly familiar, defined, of course, by the midengine layout. The C-pillar is notably far forward, a feature determined by efficient aerodynamics. The shrink-wrapped aesthetic of the McLaren F1 with its taut surface tension is missing.
The new head of McLaren Design is Frank Stephenson, a multilingual American with such cars to his credit as the BMW X5, Ferrari F430, Fiat 500, Maserati MC12 and the Mini. But Stephenson didn't arrive at McLaren from his former post at Fiat until September 2008, long after the basic shape of the MP4-12C had been signed off. Since then, he says, he has done what he can to "bring the car up to speed."
Major revisions have been made to the front end, particularly around the intake ducts and headlights. The MP4-12C has daytime driving lights, but Stephenson has avoided the decorative look expressed by the jewel-style individual LEDs as used by Audi and Porsche. "The LED lighting effect is already starting to look pass," reckons Stephenson. Instead, the MP4-12C features a special cover over the LEDs to deliver the appearance of an unbroken string of lights.
Meanwhile, the rear of the MP4-12C features the car's most controversial design feature, something that Stephenson added himself. These black, horizontal strakes are more than a little reminiscent of the Pininfarina-designed Ferrari Testarossa. The top bars house the LED tail- and brake lights, while the bottom bars are decorative. Above the rear deck is a wing, and just as with the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren it deploys automatically under braking in order to enhance aerodynamic stability, yet it can also be raised manually by the driver to provide extra rear downforce during track driving.
Just like the McLaren F1, the MP4-12C has scissor doors ("dihedral doors" in McLaren-speak). They're not only a point of distinction but Sheriff claims they also aid ingress and egress. Our brief experience suggests you'll still need some dexterity to enter the cozy cockpit with any degree of grace.
The Driving Office
The interior expresses the cockpit-style simplicity of McLaren's racing heritage. The driver is flanked by two narrow instrument pods, one attached to the door and the other to the center console. Ahead is a simple instrument binnacle with an analog rev counter and digital displays for the vehicle speed and assorted core data. The steering wheel is simple and has been left deliberately unmolested by secondary controls. A touchscreen display in the center console controls the ventilation, navigation system and the telephone, and below there are two rotary dials to adjust the suspension and throttle response.
The MP4-12C will be offered only with a seven-speed dual-clutch automated manual transmission, so there's no place on the center console for a gear lever nor space in the footwell for a clutch pedal. Just as with a Formula 1 racing car, the gears are selected by a rocker-style paddle attached to the back of the steering wheel. If you're operating the right-side lever, you pull it to upshift. With the left-side lever, you pull it to downshift. But because the lever has a center pivot, you can also flick the right-hand lever forward to downshift, or flick the left side forward to upshift. It's straight from the McLaren F1 car of 2008 F1 driving champion Lewis Hamilton. "Lewis likes to have the option," says Sheriff, "especially when he's got lots of steering lock on."
The overall effect is pleasingly functional, but it's also reasonably practical. Visibility is excellent over the nose, and the designers have gone to some lengths to ensure that you know precisely where the front wheels are. There are even cruise control and a decent-size cargo area in the nose. "This is a London-to-Monaco car," says Sheriff.
Engine by McLaren
While Mercedes-Benz has a 40 percent ownership share in the McLaren holding company that controls McLaren Automotive, it has no role in the direction of the car-building subsidiary. Indeed Sheriff makes no secret of the fact that McLaren Automotive is currently seeking investment in the MP4-12C program, said to be to the value of $410 million.
Sheriff claims the MP4-12C is 100 percent McLaren, which is why it carries the "MP4" designation just like the F1 racing cars. Even the engine is a 100 percent McLaren effort. The M838T is an intercooled, twin-turbo 3.8-liter V8 with variable valve timing and lift. The 90-degree V8 with its racing-style flat-plane crankshaft has been developed in partnership with Ricardo, the British powertrain specialists. The use of a dry-sump oiling system allows the crankshaft to be located at about the height of your shin, and the very low center of gravity enhances manueverability. The engine revs to 8,500 rpm, which is extremely high for a turbocharged engine.
McLaren claims a power output of about 600 horsepower and 443 pound-feet of torque. At the same time, McLaren also says that this engine is extremely clean in terms of air emissions, delivering more power per gram of carbon-dioxide emissions than any other power plant, including diesel- and gasoline-electric hybrids.
Carbon-Fiber Chassis
In part the MP4-12C's extraordinary performance comes from light weight, as it's some 2,866 pounds dry and about 3,000 pounds sitting at the curb with a full tank of fuel. Just as with a racing car, the weight is biased toward the rear, with a distribution of 43 percent front/57 percent rear.
The key component here is the so-called MonoCell. This one-piece chassis structure of carbon fiber weighs 175 pounds and takes four hours to cure in a high-pressure autoclave. It forms the entire passenger compartment, and Sheriff claims this is a first for a road car. The structure delivers twice the torsional rigidity of an aluminium structure. The bodywork a mix of aluminium and low-density SMC plastic plays only an aerodynamic and aesthetic role, which suggests that a convertible version of the MP4-12C could appear in the future.
The attention to detail reflects the obsessive pursuit of perfection embodied by Ron Dennis, McLaren's longtime director, who started his career as a racing mechanic. The radiators are mounted close to the engine to minimize plumbing. The rear muffler doubles as a crash structure, while the exhausts exit directly above the engine. The transmission is extraordinarily compact. The standard street-friendly cast-iron brake rotors carried by forged aluminium carriers weigh 18 pounds less than the optional, track-ready carbon-ceramic rotors.
A Suspension for Speed, Yet Supple
The MP4-12C's basic suspension setup of wishbone-type control arms and coil springs might not sound radical, but the chassis is more notable for what it doesn't possess than what it does. There are no anti-sway bars and no mechanical limited-slip differential. Instead the dampers are interconnected hydraulically, and electronic control allows them to decouple independently in a straight line for a compliant ride. The electronic control offers three modes of damping standard, Sport and High Performance with increasing levels of roll stiffness for crisper steering response. In addition, the suspension can be tuned independently of the transmission and throttle, which offer similar modes.
Instead of a mechanical limited-slip differential, the MP4-12C offers McLaren's own electronic differential. This is Brake Steer, something that McLaren developed for the 1997 MP4/12 F1 car, only to have the technology banned by the FIA. It automatically brakes the inside rear wheel on entry to a corner to minimize understeer, then does much the same on the exit of the corner to control oversteer. Meanwhile Pirelli is developing special tires for the car, and a sophisticated stability control system will be standard equipment.
McLaren made extensive use of its million-dollar F1 driving simulator to test-drive the car in its development phase, and initial testing reportedly has been expedited as a result. "It allows us to achieve a basic setup and dial out any problems before the first prototype has been built," says Sheriff. "It's of huge benefit." McLaren is in the process of building 20 real prototypes, some of which have already been spotted testing at the Nrburgring Nordschleife.
The Obsessive Pursuit of Supercar Perfection
There's no doubt that McLaren Automotive is very serious about road cars. Over the next five years it will launch a new car or a model variant every 10 months on average. It's no secret that the 550 employees are already working on a super-duper sports car (code-name P12) to sit above the 2011 McLaren MP4-12C, and a third model will be added to the line by the middle of the next decade. McLaren envisions a network of 30-40 dealers when the car is launched, and the company hopes to be building 4,000 cars a year by 2020 (1,000 of which are likely to come to the U.S.).
We can expect McLaren Automotive to continue with its naming nomenclature. "MP4" is the chassis designation given to all the McLaren F1 cars ("MP4" means "McLaren Project 4," which celebrates the takeover of McLaren by Ron Dennis' Project 4 race team in 1981). The "12" refers to McLaren's own internal performance index relating to key vehicle criteria such as mass and performance, and the "C" stands for carbon.
To create a supercar company from scratch and to develop your own engine as part of the package is a hugely ambitious program. But then McLaren has never been short of either ambition or ability, as eight F1 constructors championships and 12 F1 driving championships attest.
We'll have to wait at least a year until we drive the 2011 McLaren MP4-12C. A lot of makers of racing cars have tried to get into the road car business, but almost all of them were broken or destroyed in the process. But if this car is any measure, Ron Dennis may yet fulfill his ambition to become the 21st-century Enzo Ferrari.
McLaren not only wants to beat Ferrari on the racetrack, it wants to beat the Italian carmaker on the street as well. And to do it, McLaren has created an extraordinary expression of racing technology in a supercar for the street.
Shown to us in private at the futuristic McLaren Technology Centre (MTC) in Woking, England, the car has been known secretly as P11. This is the car that McLaren would rather have built than the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren, which indeed is still in production nearby in McLaren's manufacturing facility. Sheriff says the template for the MP4-12C has actually been the McLaren F1, the midengine supercar powered by a BMW V12 that was built between 1993 and '98.
Like the McLaren F1, the 2011 McLaren MP4-12C is meant to be the foremost expression of the automotive technology of its time, an obsessive expression of pure performance. At the same time, the MP4-12C is also supposed to be more accessible than the million-dollar F1 sports car, both in its $250,000 price tag and in the way it drives. Deliveries are expected to begin in early 2011 and McLaren intends to build 1,000 examples in its first year of production.
As always, McLaren is not short of ambition.
The Look of Performance
We're deep within MTC in an underground lair that resembles a bat cave. A wireless gizmo is summoned, something is pressed and a screen retracts to reveal a two-seat coupe painted in the orange hue made famous by the McLaren Can-Am racing cars of the 1960s. At first glance it looks disappointingly generic. The basic proportions are instantly familiar, defined, of course, by the midengine layout. The C-pillar is notably far forward, a feature determined by efficient aerodynamics. The shrink-wrapped aesthetic of the McLaren F1 with its taut surface tension is missing.
The new head of McLaren Design is Frank Stephenson, a multilingual American with such cars to his credit as the BMW X5, Ferrari F430, Fiat 500, Maserati MC12 and the Mini. But Stephenson didn't arrive at McLaren from his former post at Fiat until September 2008, long after the basic shape of the MP4-12C had been signed off. Since then, he says, he has done what he can to "bring the car up to speed."
Major revisions have been made to the front end, particularly around the intake ducts and headlights. The MP4-12C has daytime driving lights, but Stephenson has avoided the decorative look expressed by the jewel-style individual LEDs as used by Audi and Porsche. "The LED lighting effect is already starting to look pass," reckons Stephenson. Instead, the MP4-12C features a special cover over the LEDs to deliver the appearance of an unbroken string of lights.
Meanwhile, the rear of the MP4-12C features the car's most controversial design feature, something that Stephenson added himself. These black, horizontal strakes are more than a little reminiscent of the Pininfarina-designed Ferrari Testarossa. The top bars house the LED tail- and brake lights, while the bottom bars are decorative. Above the rear deck is a wing, and just as with the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren it deploys automatically under braking in order to enhance aerodynamic stability, yet it can also be raised manually by the driver to provide extra rear downforce during track driving.
Just like the McLaren F1, the MP4-12C has scissor doors ("dihedral doors" in McLaren-speak). They're not only a point of distinction but Sheriff claims they also aid ingress and egress. Our brief experience suggests you'll still need some dexterity to enter the cozy cockpit with any degree of grace.
The Driving Office
The interior expresses the cockpit-style simplicity of McLaren's racing heritage. The driver is flanked by two narrow instrument pods, one attached to the door and the other to the center console. Ahead is a simple instrument binnacle with an analog rev counter and digital displays for the vehicle speed and assorted core data. The steering wheel is simple and has been left deliberately unmolested by secondary controls. A touchscreen display in the center console controls the ventilation, navigation system and the telephone, and below there are two rotary dials to adjust the suspension and throttle response.
The MP4-12C will be offered only with a seven-speed dual-clutch automated manual transmission, so there's no place on the center console for a gear lever nor space in the footwell for a clutch pedal. Just as with a Formula 1 racing car, the gears are selected by a rocker-style paddle attached to the back of the steering wheel. If you're operating the right-side lever, you pull it to upshift. With the left-side lever, you pull it to downshift. But because the lever has a center pivot, you can also flick the right-hand lever forward to downshift, or flick the left side forward to upshift. It's straight from the McLaren F1 car of 2008 F1 driving champion Lewis Hamilton. "Lewis likes to have the option," says Sheriff, "especially when he's got lots of steering lock on."
The overall effect is pleasingly functional, but it's also reasonably practical. Visibility is excellent over the nose, and the designers have gone to some lengths to ensure that you know precisely where the front wheels are. There are even cruise control and a decent-size cargo area in the nose. "This is a London-to-Monaco car," says Sheriff.
Engine by McLaren
While Mercedes-Benz has a 40 percent ownership share in the McLaren holding company that controls McLaren Automotive, it has no role in the direction of the car-building subsidiary. Indeed Sheriff makes no secret of the fact that McLaren Automotive is currently seeking investment in the MP4-12C program, said to be to the value of $410 million.
Sheriff claims the MP4-12C is 100 percent McLaren, which is why it carries the "MP4" designation just like the F1 racing cars. Even the engine is a 100 percent McLaren effort. The M838T is an intercooled, twin-turbo 3.8-liter V8 with variable valve timing and lift. The 90-degree V8 with its racing-style flat-plane crankshaft has been developed in partnership with Ricardo, the British powertrain specialists. The use of a dry-sump oiling system allows the crankshaft to be located at about the height of your shin, and the very low center of gravity enhances manueverability. The engine revs to 8,500 rpm, which is extremely high for a turbocharged engine.
McLaren claims a power output of about 600 horsepower and 443 pound-feet of torque. At the same time, McLaren also says that this engine is extremely clean in terms of air emissions, delivering more power per gram of carbon-dioxide emissions than any other power plant, including diesel- and gasoline-electric hybrids.
Carbon-Fiber Chassis
In part the MP4-12C's extraordinary performance comes from light weight, as it's some 2,866 pounds dry and about 3,000 pounds sitting at the curb with a full tank of fuel. Just as with a racing car, the weight is biased toward the rear, with a distribution of 43 percent front/57 percent rear.
The key component here is the so-called MonoCell. This one-piece chassis structure of carbon fiber weighs 175 pounds and takes four hours to cure in a high-pressure autoclave. It forms the entire passenger compartment, and Sheriff claims this is a first for a road car. The structure delivers twice the torsional rigidity of an aluminium structure. The bodywork a mix of aluminium and low-density SMC plastic plays only an aerodynamic and aesthetic role, which suggests that a convertible version of the MP4-12C could appear in the future.
The attention to detail reflects the obsessive pursuit of perfection embodied by Ron Dennis, McLaren's longtime director, who started his career as a racing mechanic. The radiators are mounted close to the engine to minimize plumbing. The rear muffler doubles as a crash structure, while the exhausts exit directly above the engine. The transmission is extraordinarily compact. The standard street-friendly cast-iron brake rotors carried by forged aluminium carriers weigh 18 pounds less than the optional, track-ready carbon-ceramic rotors.
A Suspension for Speed, Yet Supple
The MP4-12C's basic suspension setup of wishbone-type control arms and coil springs might not sound radical, but the chassis is more notable for what it doesn't possess than what it does. There are no anti-sway bars and no mechanical limited-slip differential. Instead the dampers are interconnected hydraulically, and electronic control allows them to decouple independently in a straight line for a compliant ride. The electronic control offers three modes of damping standard, Sport and High Performance with increasing levels of roll stiffness for crisper steering response. In addition, the suspension can be tuned independently of the transmission and throttle, which offer similar modes.
Instead of a mechanical limited-slip differential, the MP4-12C offers McLaren's own electronic differential. This is Brake Steer, something that McLaren developed for the 1997 MP4/12 F1 car, only to have the technology banned by the FIA. It automatically brakes the inside rear wheel on entry to a corner to minimize understeer, then does much the same on the exit of the corner to control oversteer. Meanwhile Pirelli is developing special tires for the car, and a sophisticated stability control system will be standard equipment.
McLaren made extensive use of its million-dollar F1 driving simulator to test-drive the car in its development phase, and initial testing reportedly has been expedited as a result. "It allows us to achieve a basic setup and dial out any problems before the first prototype has been built," says Sheriff. "It's of huge benefit." McLaren is in the process of building 20 real prototypes, some of which have already been spotted testing at the Nrburgring Nordschleife.
The Obsessive Pursuit of Supercar Perfection
There's no doubt that McLaren Automotive is very serious about road cars. Over the next five years it will launch a new car or a model variant every 10 months on average. It's no secret that the 550 employees are already working on a super-duper sports car (code-name P12) to sit above the 2011 McLaren MP4-12C, and a third model will be added to the line by the middle of the next decade. McLaren envisions a network of 30-40 dealers when the car is launched, and the company hopes to be building 4,000 cars a year by 2020 (1,000 of which are likely to come to the U.S.).
We can expect McLaren Automotive to continue with its naming nomenclature. "MP4" is the chassis designation given to all the McLaren F1 cars ("MP4" means "McLaren Project 4," which celebrates the takeover of McLaren by Ron Dennis' Project 4 race team in 1981). The "12" refers to McLaren's own internal performance index relating to key vehicle criteria such as mass and performance, and the "C" stands for carbon.
To create a supercar company from scratch and to develop your own engine as part of the package is a hugely ambitious program. But then McLaren has never been short of either ambition or ability, as eight F1 constructors championships and 12 F1 driving championships attest.
We'll have to wait at least a year until we drive the 2011 McLaren MP4-12C. A lot of makers of racing cars have tried to get into the road car business, but almost all of them were broken or destroyed in the process. But if this car is any measure, Ron Dennis may yet fulfill his ambition to become the 21st-century Enzo Ferrari.
