This Is The Successor To The McLaren F1

This is the successor to one of the greatest cars ever built, the McLaren F1. It's called the P1 and McLaren's goal with it is quite simple,  "to be the best driver's car in the world on the road and track."

Don't get too excited by the images. While I say that "this" is it, it's actually just a design concept at this stage. It sort of looks like a stretched out and more hardcore MP4-12C. While the MP4-12C is a great supercar, it never quite achieved that same level of engineering perfection as the original F1 did when it launched in the 90's. 

Not only did you get an engine bay lined with 19 carat gold, you also got, actually that's all you got. You didn't get no ABS. No power steering. No nothing. The F1 was a true drivers car. You step in and you do the driving. The MP4-12C, with all its clever traction control and suspension witchcraft, more-or-less does the driving for you. Even though the F1 is now, like twentyish years old, it still manages to do a whooping 242 miles per hour. Very few cars, supercars, come close to that sort of performance even today. 

McLaren boss Ron Dennis says "the McLaren P1 will be the result of 50 years of racing and road heritage. Twenty years ago, we raised the supercar performance bar with the McLaren F1 and our goal with the McLaren P1 is to redifine it once again."

We will have to wait until 2013 for a production version of the McLaren P1 and at least another 12 months after that for the actual car to land. Even so, this early sneak view should give you a lot to get excited about.