الثلاثاء، 18 مارس 2014

McLaren P1 (2014) CAR review

The McLaren P1, in a strange but striking black paintjob that changes to purple when the sun’s out, has been transformed into Race mode. I know because I pushed the little Race button on the bottom of the non-lacquered carbon centre console and watched on the dash display as the car magically lowered (by 50mm) and the giant rear wing extended (by 300mm). I’m now hugging the tarmac, bum snug in the carbon-framed Alcantara-trimmed race seat. I’m eye-to-eye with the Armco guardrail, eye-to-kneecap with a mechanic who stands nearby.
We're at the Bahrain Grand Prix circuit, in the pit lane. It's a cool but sunny Sunday and I’m about to go faster than a Formula 1 car.
I push the Launch button alongside the Race button. Then stab the brake pedal, hard. It’s instinctive to push the brakes hard, as though it’s necessary to stop the beast bolting forward. In fact, a soft but firm touch will suffice. Then I push the accelerator pedal as far as it goes and the twin-turbo V8, barely a foot or so behind my spine, its power boosted by a silent electric motor, screams and growls and thank god I’m wearing a helmet to mute the thunder going on behind.

 
The bar-graph tachometer comes alive. A little dash display sign comes up to say ‘launch control ready to go’, and the brakes are released. And…
Tony Bennett may have left his heart in San Francisco; I left my innards and my previous comprehension of supercar performance back in the pit lane of the Sakhir circuit in Bahrain. 

 

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