Coming this Wednesday, the McLaren MP4-12C!
1997 McLaren MP4/12 Grand Prix racer
This coming Wednesday, McLaren will finally reveal the followup to its legendary F1 road car, but this weekend, in an interview with the Times of London newspaper, Ron Dennis finally announced the car's name. The supercar which until now had been referred to as the P11 will be dubbed the MP4-12C. That designation draws directly on McLaren's formula heritage where the company's racecars have borne the MP4 designation since 1981. Why the road car is named after the relatively unsuccessful 1997 model is not clear at this point, but perhaps we will learn more this week.
Of course, a name in-and-of-itself doesn't have anything to do with how good the car itself might be. Besides the name, Dennis did drop a few other hints about the car. As with the venerable F1, the chassis of the new supercar is to be made of carbon fiber. This time around, the car has gullwing doors and only two seats, rather than the three staggered thrones of the F1. Features like an automatic variable rate suspension likely means the MP4-12C won't be under the 2,400-pound weight of the F1.
In spite of its immense performance, the only 106 F1s were built over six years including the race cars – for the MP4-12C, McLaren is looking to achieve a much more ambitious target: 1,000 units per year.
[Source: The Times of London | Image: Wikimedia Commons - CC 2.0]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Affalterbach 11:26AM (9/07/2009)
Strangest supercar name ever. This takes the love of alpha-numerics to an allt time high.
The reason why this roadcar was named after that '97 F1 car is because McLaren introduced a new tech of steer-by-brake. It was a novel concept of 2 brake pedals that allowed the driver to dial in braking while steering, thus reducing understeer.
I think FIA banned that tech as soon as it was introduced.....not sure though.
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Affalterbach 12:30PM (9/07/2009)
It had "fiddle brakes" i.e. 2 brake pedals. The driver could apply the brake to an individual rear wheel to control wheelspin. This was banned within 1 year. It seems inconceivable that the road car would have 2 brake pedals & manual control of individual wheel braking BUT at least 1 major website is reporting that the road car has "brake steering" - presumably an automatic version of the F1 car's fiddle brakes.
- Courtesy Autocar's good poster
Javanese 3:18PM (9/07/2009)
I think with the MP4-12C nametag we can be sure it'll be powered by mercedes (god forbid if theres a badge on the car that says that.) and being that it was the 1st merc powered mclaren that actually won races. Glad to see ass kissing still exist at mclaren. Only Hakkinen naming his son Hugo (allegedly after his sponsor) is worse.
Thye should just named the car Project 4. Makes much more sense...
meatbag 4:00PM (9/07/2009)
@ Javanese
"and finally dear lord baby Jesus, due to a stipulation of a binding endorsement contract that requires i mention Powerade at each grace, i just wanna say Powerade is delicious and we look forward to Powerades release of mystic mountain blueberry"
click.kas 5:07PM (9/07/2009)
One of my Most favourite Mclaren , the site of Mika in the Mp4-12 is still stunning!
http://www.indianautotalk.com
HotRodzNKustoms 11:36AM (9/07/2009)
MP4-12C because it is so much easier to remember than P11, or F1 for that matter.
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zamafir 11:43AM (9/07/2009)
gull-wing? two seater? dear god please do not let this be a rebadged or reskinned SLS.
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Mike7 11:46AM (9/07/2009)
The MP4-12CHV643KB21329CDE is supposed to be mid-engined, isn't it?
zamafir 11:49AM (9/07/2009)
good call, thanks, it just seems very very very counterproductive to go through the extra weight and R&D on gull-wing doors on something that's McLaren's follow up to the F1 (and not Murray's, believe me I understand the difference, but still, odd).
dwaynebrown19 5:36PM (9/07/2009)
Why not F-1 again, its been awhile or F-1 2010.
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Redline 1:00PM (9/07/2009)
It's gonna be tough for McLaren to eclipse the F1. Best of luck.
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mclarensmps 1:17PM (9/07/2009)
I really hate it that everyone is touting this to be the successor of the McLaren F1. It is not. It is supposed to be downmarket. It is supposed to be more readily available. It is supposed to compete with the likes of the Ferrari F458 or whatever the new one is called. It is not supposed to be the hypercar that was the F1. It is not out to be the fastest car in the world. It's supposed to be McLaren's first car, in a multi-model project set to compete against the likes of Porsche, Ferrari, Aston Martin, etc.
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Dale 3:04PM (9/07/2009)
thank you - the reprise to the F1 will come out in the next few years - if the rumors are accurate
Santosh Tiwari 3:47PM (9/07/2009)
F1 captured the imagination of us folks and thats what makes it legendary.
Its difficult to repeat that.
It should have a top speed higher than SSC Ultimate Aero
It should accelerate faster than a Caparo T1
It should be more agile (better handling) than the Ferrari Enzo
It should be better looking than the Pagani Zonda
Its interior should be more luxurious than the Buggati Veyron.
It should be significantly more expensive than all of the above.
Now you have the next hyper-car that will truly blow me away.
wseroyer 4:36PM (9/07/2009)
the name just rolls off the tongue.
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Kyle 7:52PM (9/07/2009)
This means they're gonna reveal it at Frankfurt? I didnt know they were this far done with developing it. Thats awesome news. The road car section is where I wouldnt mind having a ferrari and a mclaren in my garage. But on the track its all MP4.
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campasini1 9:26PM (9/07/2009)
wow cant wait to see this thing!!!
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