Date Night with a McLaren P1 GTR
Last night, McLaren Newport Beach hosted an exclusive and intimate evening featuring a 986 horsepower, very limited production McLaren P1 GTR. This dedicated track car is the same one that debuted at the Geneva International Motor Show earlier this year.
The evening’s festivities took place inside a gorgeous mansion, and the guest list of potential GTR Driver Programme customers topped out at around 30 people which meant that I had plenty of uninterrupted time to examine the fine details of this elegant beast.
Immediately apparent is the P1 GTR’s extremely low ride-height. It sits half an inch lower than the standard P1 in Race mode and doesn’t have a lift system.
Needless to say, the McLaren staff had a tough time getting the car off the transporter and up a residential driveway, especially with the added length of the front splitter and rear diffuser.
The car’s massive rear wing is a sight to behold, fixed at almost 16 inches above the rear bodywork and increasing downforce over the road-going version by 10 percent. All of the aerodynamic components together produce around 1,455 lbs of downforce at 150 mph.
Of course, maximum downforce isn’t always required during racing conditions, so the GTR is outfitted with a Drag Reduction System (DRS) that is operated via the steering wheel. A simple press of a button and the wing changes its pitch from 32 degrees to zero degrees.
When the small crowd eventually worked its way to the bar, I very carefully squeezed myself into the carbon fiber tub for the view of a lifetime. The cockpit is clear of distractions and features what is essentially a trimmed version of a Formula 1 steering wheel.
Front visibility is surprisingly good, considering how low the seating position is. For reference, my knees are about as high as the front tires with my feet placed on the pedals. After a minute or so of imagining myself in a Le Mans race, I quietly made some “vroom vroom” sounds and gently climbed out of the car.
I caught up with McLaren Newport Beach’s Marketing Director, Cedric Davy, to find out more about the authenticity of this machine. It recently made an appearance at Supercar Sunday, a popular SoCal automotive gathering, and rumors immediately began flying that it was just a show car—a rolling chassis with no engine.
Cedric confirmed that it is indeed fully functional and that the P1 GTR wards removed the ECU to prevent anyone from starting the car. Taking the ECU seemed a bit extreme, but then it dawned on me that race cars don’t have keys.
This $3 million Ultimate Series McLaren that I was standing next to is the same one seen tearing up the track with its older sibling, the F1 GTR:
The McLaren Driver Programme will have its first on-track activity later this year at the Circuit de Catalunya in Spain for a handful of very lucky owners. Hopefully, that means there will be more photos and videos of this magnificent track monster.
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