Rumormill: McLaren planning hybrid supercar
McLaren F1 LM - Click above for high-res image gallery
McLaren has put up a job posting for a Senior Engineer for Powertrain Hybrid Technology on its official website, which may offer a few clues as to where the automaker may be heading in the near future for its road cars. As far as rumors go, this one seems pretty solid. According to an unnamed spokesperson quoted by Autocar:
It (hybrid technology) is something we want as a forward-thinking, technology-driven company. We have been considering it for future projects. All the advert means is that we are looking for a senior engineer in powertrain hybrid technology. Read into it what you will.One possibility is that McLaren will attempt to adapt the KERS system from its Formula 1 race cars for street use. It's widely agreed upon that McLaren's KERS implementation is the best in F1 and both BMW and Ferrari are also thought to be working on KERS for future road cars.
Within the next few years, McLaren is expected to introduce a couple of new supercars, including a replacement for the current SLR, codenamed P11, and a successor to the famed F1 supercar from the mid '90s that's currently known as the P12.
Gallery: McLaren F1 LM
[Source: McLaren via Autocar]
_opt_thumbnail.jpg)
_thumbnail.jpg "2011 Audi A8: Live from Miami")
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
dspielman 6:29PM (7/02/2009)
About friggin time!
Reply
fmwso 6:31PM (7/02/2009)
As long as they can make a sexy design like the old F1, im all for that.
Reply
zamafir 7:03PM (7/02/2009)
they can't. now where do you stand.
fmwso 7:32PM (7/02/2009)
I think they can, hopefully lol...
zamafir 8:59PM (7/02/2009)
have you read a lot about the f1 and what single factor was most pivotal in the development, gestation, and creation of the car? Hint, he's an icon and he's not working on supercars right now.
Kiiks 11:05PM (7/02/2009)
Whose inspiration for the dynamics of the F1 apparently came from the Honda NSX.
zamafir 11:10PM (7/02/2009)
@Kiiks - indeed, though i'm curious what sort of conclusion you're attempting to draw? Without Murray we simply need to give the new development team an NSX and we'll have a McLaren F1 beating car? I doubt it. Murray was quite smitten with the compromise between road handling and trackability of the NSX and frequently returned to it while developing the F1, but the NSX didn't sire the F1, it simply gave Murray a good target for pure usability.
Though that plays well into my comment. I'd offer that Honda will NEVER again produce anything as perfect for its time as the NSX, ever again.
Kiiks 11:35PM (7/02/2009)
I was just offering more backstory to the original F1 as a masterpiece of Murray's design. McLaren's current development team have plenty of excellent road cars by which to set benchmarks - though what will their goals be in terms of price range and performance? Do they want a racy MC-12? Something like a Zonda? A monster Veryon? Or even something as extreme as the T1? As the NSX today is largely irrelevant to the world of supercars, it would be interesting to see from where they draw their inspiration, for it most certainly won't come from Honda.
I wouldn't go so far as to say Honda will never again produce an envelope-pushing road car like the NSX was in it's time, though a front-engined V10 battleship is hardly what I'd call a supercar or a worthy successor to the NSX.
jon 6:33PM (7/02/2009)
why can't they just reproduce the F1??
Reply
Patrick 6:56PM (7/02/2009)
The F1 is over 13 years old and still amazing to look at.
Reply
timwang2006 7:51PM (7/02/2009)
I think all thirteen year olds are amazing to look at.
Kiiks 11:09PM (7/02/2009)
.........BWAHAHAHA
Patrick 4:01AM (7/03/2009)
NAMBLA called, it wants my comment back.
djdnz 11:12AM (7/03/2009)
Yes!!! The F1 was my favourite car ever since Need for Speed 2! I hope that they still follow the same principles when designing this one; no compromises. Maybe it will show up the Veyron next time on Top Gear.
Reply
mcampasini 8:03PM (7/02/2009)
this car was so far ahead of its time in performance and looks etc,no car maker will ever surpass its achievement......................
Reply
zamafir 9:01PM (7/02/2009)
you are 100% correct sir.
dwaltr 10:10PM (7/02/2009)
Funny how reports claim that KERS used in F1 will possibly be used in a new road car. Is this the same KERS that has been dropped by all the F1 teams and won't be used anytime in the near future because it costs to much and doesn't work well enough?
The F1 couldn't be built today because of the over regulation that has infested the auto industry over the last decade. I'm sure the environmental terrorists are currently scheming ways in which to get any kind of 'supercar' banned because of it's obvious negative impact on the polar bear.
Let's hope that whatever car McLaren do come up with that it finds it's way onto some race tracks. Perhaps Le Mans?
Reply
Kiiks 11:41PM (7/02/2009)
I always thought that McLaren would be better suited to the more open-source world of sports car racing. I know they're a historic and legendary F1 outfit but I could see them doing well with sports prototypes (LMP's, currently) as those cars are arguably more technologically relevant to road cars than Grand Prix cars. Besides, there's something funny about a car named "F1" winning a race called "24 Hueres du Mans."
BoxerFanatic 11:24PM (7/02/2009)
NO NO NO!!!!!!!
The F1 was PURE, automotive engineering with no holds barred, nothing sacred except weight savings, and pure purpose of function, including aerodynamics.
Hybrid compromise is the ANTITHESIS of that, and an insult to the McLaren F1's Legacy, that even the mighty, and technically faster, committee-built Bugatti Veyron hasn't fully eclipsed.
Buy 400 Priuses, I don't care. NOT a hybrid McLaren.
Reply
ProSportNutrition.net 3:10AM (7/03/2009)
If you can afford a McLaren. You can afford the gas. Hybrids are nothing more than the feeling of good MPG, and the fantasy of savings.
Reply