McLaren is renowned for winning races. But when it comes to commercial success with its road cars, it has been more ambitious tail-ender than podium star. Its best-known past effort, the F1, launched in 1993, was the most exciting road car I've driven. It did 240mph. It had a central (Grand Prix-style) driving position. It was the first road car to use a carbon fibre chassis. And it is still widely feted as the greatest driving machine of all time.
But, at £640,000, it was never going to be a big seller. And it wasn't. Just 64 road versions were built (100 if you include a belated track special). The plan was for 350. It turned out to be a costly PR exercise, if a very good technical entrée to McLaren's next stand-alone effort, the new MP4-12C.
Stand-alone? Yes, because McLaren's other road cars have been collaborations with other auto makers, including Ford. Most notable — although a commercial flop — was the Mercedes SLR McLaren, which was more Merc than Mac in engineering, never mind that it was built alongside the Grand Prix racers in Woking.
The new MP4-12C is on a much higher technical plane. It is, says McLaren Automotive MD Antony Sheriff, "pure McLaren". So pure that McLaren even built its first own engine (The F1 road car used a fettled BMW V12.) The result is a 3.8-litre twin turbo 592bhp V8 — more powerful, more economical and capable of delivering a heftier accelerative shove than the engine of McLaren's great road car rival, the Ferrari 458 Italia.
The new £168,500 12C also has a Grand Prix-like carbon fibre chassis, the first in the sub-£200,000 sports car class. This gives substantial strength and weight benefits. There are a lot of other motorsport-inspired attractions, not least a steering wheel rim that is precisely the same thickness as Lewis Hamilton's GP racer (plus 2mm to compensate for the thickness of Lewis' racing gloves — talk about attention to detail!).
Unsurprisingly, the 12C is very fast. 205mph is probably quicker than you'll ever do on the M1. More surprising, the 12C is all-round usable. Most high-speed sports cars are as happy at low speed in the cities as a thoroughbred racehorse in a crowded urban park. Not this one. The engine is incredibly tractable at low revs and all-round visibility is more panoramic than peephole (unlike most mid-engine Ferraris). The ride quality is astonishingly good for a car so fast. Sheriff calls it the 'and' car principle: "It's a car that's fast and thrilling to drive and comfortable and refined."
Calling the 12C an 'and' car is not very sexy, and neither is the nomenclature. MP4-12C sounds like a cough mixture not a sports car. MP4 is the branding of all McLaren GP cars since its first carbon fibre car of 1981. The 12, reveals McLaren boss Ron Dennis, is "an algorithm — a combination of drag, bhp, CO2 and weight." The C stands for carbon. Compare that with the Ferrari 458 Italia, 599 Fiorano, 612 Scaglietti and the Ferrari California, and you can see which cars are made by the emotional Italians and which cars come from technologists in a space-age factory in Surrey.
I have driven the 12C and can report that it is brilliant, one of the very best sports cars of all time, an amazing synthesis of speed, usability and comfort.It is also 'step one' in McLaren Automotive's grand plan to make a Ferrari-rivalling British sports car company. Thirty-five dealers have been appointed in 19 countries. The first dealership, in Knightsbridge, London, opened in June.
Not that you can walk in and pick up a car. As a sign that McLaren may finally be becoming a front runner in road cars, as well as in Formula One, 12C production is sold out for the first 18 months.
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