Mclaren's MP4-12C to take on the big boy's.

The Facts

Mclaren began working on a new generation of Supercars to follow up on the successful Mclaren F1 road car of the 1990's and they did just that with the brand New MP4-12C. It's set to take on the Ferrari F458 Italia and the Lamborghini Gallardo's replacement due out sometime next summer. It will also take on the Porsche 911 GT3 RS and likely the Corvette C7 and Dodge Viper, Lotus Esprit when they both make a return to the supercar market.

The MP4-12C has a more conventional lay out from the previous 3 seater design found in the legendary F1 and for the first time Mclaren has designed it's very own engine the M838 T which is based on the Nissan VRH35 found in the R390 Race car that makes it a 3.8 liter V8 Twin Turbo which redlines at 8500 RPM however torque will be around 2000RPM.

It produces 592 horsepower and 266 ft·lbf of torque Not bad considering it weighs 2,866 lbs, Pretty much what a Pontiac Fiero GT with a V8 conversion would weigh.

it's going to use a 7 speed gear box to keep pace with the new generation of Supercars which all seem to be going with the 7 speed fad. We don't know for sure what they will perform like.

Mclaren is currently developing a lighter GT3 race car with a detuned 500hp engine which we are only guessing will rev at higher RPM's allowing it to be a better performer. There's also talks of a first ever Mclaren Spyder model allowing the roof to be removable which will be due sometime out next year.

We can only guess there will be a high performance model to tackle the future F458 Challenge racer, Lamborghini SL, Porsche 911's replacement GT3, Corvette's Z06 and the Dodge Viper's ACR all special models and we can also only guess what Lotus has plans for their Esprit V8 if they are going to do a high performance model as well.


The Bottom Line

I love the Mclaren MP4-12C because it will give those who never got the chance to buy a Mclaren F1 new back in the early 1990's an opportunity to own a part of Mclaren's history. For sure it will not be a Ferrari F458 or a Lamborghini(XXX) But most likely it will be the best secondary class of supercars out there. I predict it will exceed the performance of some of the more expensive cars such as the Aventador, The replacment for the 599 and quite a few others. It will also put those "Bang for the buck" supercars such as the Corvette Z06, Nissan GTR and Dodge Viper in their places where they belong and with Mclaren working on a replacement for their F-1 Roadcar it's only a matter of time before Bugatti will lose the title of being king of the hill and return's it back to Mclaren.

But I can't give them 100% credit after all they are developing their own engines, chassis and now they are slowly getting back into the world of motor racing so we can expect there will be challenges to over come.

Overall Mclaren in general is the company I'm keeping my eye on besides Lotus to come back and become big players. Then again I'm expecting that they will come back and dominate. I'm not so sure about Lotus.


VF1Skullangel with Acceleration Media.