McLaren P1 GTR Officially Revealed, Still Bananas

McLaren’s frantic track-only supercar is just around the corner.

The P1 GTR will make its in-person debut at the Geneva Motor Show in livery that pays tribute to the yellow and green McLaren F1 GTR number 06R that was one of five F1 GTRs that dominated the 24 Hours of Le Mans 20 years ago. McLaren said it only made minimal changes to the car compared to the design concept that it first showed at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance last August.

It still has massive exhaust pipes poking out the rear, an absurdly large spoiler capable of trimming itself from 32° to 0,° and a claimed 1,000 metric horsepower (986 hp). The front track is 80 mm wider than the normal P1 and the front end sits 50 mm lower to the ground than that model. In total, the body modifications increase downforce by 10 percent.

McLaren retained the P1 windshield, but replaced the other windows with racing spec polycarbonate with a sliding ticket window on the driver side. In total, the company’s engineers managed to cut another 110 lbs from the car. That’s a big deal because the road-going model only has a curb weight of 3,280 lbs.

But this is no road-going car. It rides on special 19-inch center-locking racing alloys wrapped in Pirelli racing slicks and even f you own one, you may not take it out on the street. That only happens on a track after McLaren puts you through a special driver program that involves molding the seat to its owner and putting them through an evaluation at the company’s “Human Performance Center.” After that, you get to drive your new car… in a simulator. Once the company is satisfied that you probably aren’t going to kill yourself or immediately ruin the car, the real driving begins at the Circuit de Catalunya in Spain later this year.

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