McLaren Teases New Car with Light Trails

 

McLaren’s Mp4-12c has been carrying the torch for the brand since it’s debut last year. No question it’s a winner. It’s fast, handles like a dream, and looks drop-dead sexy with the top off. But it’s no McLaren F1. McLaren has been silent on the successor to their world beating super car, until now. They’re bringing it to the Paris auto show at the end of the month. 

Until then, all we’ve been given to pore over is this light tracing of the MP4-12C’s lines. It’ll have some pretty big shoes to fill, as the McLaren F1 was the most incredible car the world had ever seen when it showed up in 1992. Even now, it remains the fastest naturally aspirated production car in the world. If you wanted to go 240 mph in road car, this was your only option for about a decade.

More than likely, the new car use the same high-tech construction of the MP4-12C. Expect to be ultra light and filled to the gills with McLaren’s F1 car technology. Push-rod suspension, hydraulic antiroll bars… Who knows? It might even feature the KERS system. Hybrid power is in now, so we wouldn’t be that surprised to see the tech in their halo car.

It’ll probably be packing a tuned version of the V8 from the MP41-12C. Maybe even a V10. Whate ver it is, we know it won’t be packing  a V12 like it’s predecessor. McLaren has recently dismissed that engine configuration as a “thing of the past.” There might be some truth to that, but it isn’t as though McLaren has built their fame on mammoth engines and colossal power. It’s the whole package that counts.

The teaser doesn’t reveal much (as a teaser should), but at least now we know it’s coming. McLaren’s F1 is legendary. Not only will it have to live up to expectations, but it’ll have to compete against the current wave of incredible cars from the likes of Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Porsche. Paris can’t come soon enough.

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