McLaren MP4-12C Supercar: Guess Who’s Back

2011 McLaren MP4-12C Supercar

McLaren have always been a behind-the-scene sort of a carmaker. Apart from their F1 team, not much else of the UK-based New-Zealander-founded team is ever heard of. They went into hibernation and woke up in 1992 to rock the world of supercars with the McLaren F1, the fastest road car ever made.

McLaren even sprinkles a little bit of its magic onto partners Mercedes-Benz (Mercedes SLR McLaren). In 2009 though, they planned to revisit the aura of the F1. Thus was announced, the MP4-12C.

Sure, it doesn’t sound exotic enough but wait till you hear the numbers. The mid-engined 12C is powered by an all-new 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8 with a dry sump and flat-plane crank. It produces 600bhp and 443lb ft of torque, 80 per cent of which is available from less than 2,000rpm. It will weigh just under 1.4 tonnes.

Official speed figures haven’t been out yet, but rumours have it that it will cross 100 kph from standstill in 3-ish seconds going on to haul your behind at more than 320 kph. Not as insanely quick as the F1 but a good successor.

The car sits on a one-piece carbon fibre tub that weighs in at just 81 kgs. All those horses and torques are put to use through a clever seven-speed dual clutch transmission (called SSG) and a suspension system that doesn’t need an anti-roll bar since it has inter-connected dampers. Stopping duties are enhanced by the rear air-brake.

The car sure doesn’t look very exotic either, but that’s exactly the point says McLaren MD Anthony Sheriff who adds, “The structure, layout and packaging were all defined before we put pen to paper.”

2011 McLaren MP4-12C Rear

Designer Frank Stephenson, who joined McLaren in 2008 after stints at BMW, Ferrari, Fiat and Alfa Romeo goes on to add, “We started with an aerodynamic proportions model to see if we could meet the targets we’d set, and created a shape around that.” Stephenson adds, “There’s efficiency to the design of the 12C,” says Stephenson. “The shape is not overpowered by styling tricks or elements that don’t need to be there. With McLaren it’s more technological – there’s no styling for styling’s sake.”

McLaren plans to build around 1000 12C’s each year. This makes it less exclusive than the F1. It will cost around £175,000 which makes it a hell of a lot cheaper than the F1’s half million quid mark even back in 1992, its gold-leaf plated engine bay making the huge price ‘reasonable’.

At a recent unveiling event of the 12C, McLaren invited its Formula 1 drivers Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton to test the car for the cameras. The duo is likely to be the 12C’s first customers.

Supercars generally don’t see to get the point of the green-fever but McLaren is keen to keep its customers glowing green. Sheriff adds that “The lightweight carbon fibre monocoque means we can deliver a CO2 rate comfortably under 300g per km which is comfortably the best in its segment. Emissions are the lowest grammes per km per horsepower delivered of any car in the world, apart from electric cars but including hybrids.”

Check out the video of Button and Hamilton here:

Do let us know what you think of the 12C and, do suggest some cool names!

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