McLaren Speedtail Hits 250mph With Ease During Cape Canaveral Test Sessions

[SPhilli911]

First thing I thought of was the Jaguar XJ220, then this:

Gotta say, I am not much of a fan. But after the Senna, I am not sure what to think of Mclaren's styling anymore. Would like to see more pictures, maybe I will change my mind.

 

[fatkid]

Reminds me of this car:

I honestly don't see any of the XJ220 in the speedtail. I think it is to do with the colour and long sweeping roofline. But the shape and the details are completely different. If these speedtail pictures were in a different colour, I don't think anyone would see a resemblance.

At first glance, looks like a generic Regera kit car ripoff to me. It doesn't scream McLaren at all, or even echo any of the F1's design elements (the side strakes, the four taillights, the bonnet scoop).

Alas, even though this takes inspiration from the legendary F1, it was never meant as a direct successor. The third paragraph down that has a quote from the McLaren CEO:
https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/mclaren/97731/mclaren-speedtail-986bhp-hyper-gt-to-be-revealed-today

The F1 is such a legendary car I don't think any car could live up to it as a sucessor. And I think because it doesn't follow the norm of what we think a super/hyper car should look like, the radical, unconventional looks will take some time to get used to. I personally love it. It harkens back to tht old salt flats, streamliner, top speed record cars of old:

And as unusual a name "Speedtail" is, I think design reflects that.

This also has me very intrigued:


To quote Francis Bacon:
"There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion."

 

[Dsavage27]

And here I go this whole time thinking the P1 was the F1's successor lol.

 

[fatkid]

Video of it is up:

Good old Tim.

 

[SiriusR]

 

[J-PaP]

The only thing I find disappointing is how a car that looks to be so purpose built for top speed can only achieve 250mph. A shadow of what other manufacturers achieve with designs that look nowhere near as tailored.

The Senna is somewhat similar in that respect. At least with this car is nowhere near as ugly.

At least they got the 570s, 720s, 600lt right.

 

[NotThePrez]

I love it personally. The only thing I'm not a fan of is the covered front wheels. It would look better with covered wheels all around imo. The interior is absolutely gorgeous.

While great looking, I''m not sure why McLaren is touting this as a F1 successor, especially considering that the F1 was quite spartan when it was new.

 

[SiriusR]

The only thing I find disappointing is how a car that looks to be so purpose built for top speed can only achieve 250mph.

It might be electronically limited. But still, 250mph cap is disappointing indeed, considering how there are cars aiming at 280mph and beyond.

But still, I want one badly. In yellow and white, to compliment its cheesy name.

p.s.: rear ailerons are indeed a part of the rear shell and are made from flexible carbon fiber.

 

[Theaffliction]

I love it personally. The only thing I'm not a fan of is the covered front wheels. It would look better with covered wheels all around imo. The interior is absolutely gorgeous.

While great looking, I''m not sure why McLaren is touting this as a F1 successor, especially considering that the F1 was quite spartan when it was new.

See I thought so too and a friend started photoshop to see and....

Its not as big of a difference as I thought it would be imo.

 

[McLaren]

Not sure about any of you, but I personally find it somewhat similar to F1 GT.

Perhaps, but the GT’s creation was to homologate the ‘97 GTRs and it never got off the ground. Of the 106 F1s, there’s only 3 that were built at the tail end of the production; very minimal car in terms of the F1’s roaring success to pay tribute to with the Speedtail.

 

[Dan]

Already a lot of people don't like the way it looks but I kinda do. If I were to describe the look of the Speedtail the words i'd use are things like "Flowy" "Smooth" "Clean" That sort of thing. It isn't really meant to look all In-Your-Face like the Senna does with it's oversized rear wing.

Perhaps we are so accustomed to more sharp, angular supercars that we’re shocked to see a graceful, flowing design.

 

[Dsavage27]

This would be an interesting comparison against Koenigseggs regera, albeit they do look like cousins. But I'm hoping eventually there will be comparisons between the two.

 

[OJT6627]

IMO, the car looks insane. So smooth and at the same time this smoothness has some agression in it. Love it

Stats seem a bit underwhelming, but McLaren consider this car as a Hyper-GT so it means that it is sort of a next step from DB11 and Bentleys and stuff

Chiron, on the other hand...

 

[baldgye]

Looks stunning, looking forward to seeing a race trim model

 

[TheCracker]

See I thought so too and a friend started photoshop to see and....
View attachment 776258
Its not as big of a difference as I thought it would be imo.

Been there. Done that.

 

[lancia delta hf]

Looks like it was designed in the early 90s as a future design.

 

[BigJimmy]

The older I get the less I care about Hyper Cars. I tried with this one but I just don't care any more. Should I hand in my Man Card on the way out?

 

[Pedinhuh]

I'm not too keen on the name and design of the rear, but everything else about it looks amazing to me...Shame that this doesn't have a gold coated NA ICE like the F1, but what's important here is the speed.

I personally think the name McLaren F2 would fit better for it since McLaren sees this as the true successor to the F1.

I want to hear how it sounds now.

 

[SiriusR]

Perhaps, but the GT’s creation was to homologate the ‘97 GTRs and it never got off the ground. Of the 106 F1s, there’s only 3 that were built at the tail end of the production; very minimal car in terms of the F1’s roaring success to pay tribute to with the Speedtail.

So an aerodynamically superior version of F1 isn't worthy of drawing inspiration from just because it's too rare and obscure? Sheesh, I'm starting to get a feeling like you guys would only be satisfied if McLaren would've pulled a 911 and rolled out a nearly identical copy of F1.
I honestly didn't expect Speedtail's "homage to F1" to go beyond high top speed and 1+2 interior configuration. Anything beyond that, while probably cool, wouldn't be that neccessary.

 

[Carbon_6]

There are some intriguing aspects of the car, like the rear aero flaps seamlessly joined to the body.

But it looks more like the sort of commission that MSO would dish out courtesy of a customer's desire to "stand out" - an homage to the F1 using a 720S as its base. It looks nice, but just seems to lack any substance.

One thing I do not like is the T-PT effect on the carbon fibre. It's like someone's smeared hand cream or something all over the panels.

Kind of reminds me a bit of Lamborghini's forged carbon fibre.

 

[danimac]

Yuck! Reminds me of the XJ220 a little bit. Just because your seated in the middle doesn’t make it a successors to the F1. Since the 720s McLaren have lost their style! Anyways I was really hope for a McLaren F1 that’s looks similar to the original but has modern suspension and handling parts.

But keeping an NA V12 engine with Manual Stick. But also have a paddle shift version as well for anyone that prefers that.

And being able to choose the manual shift on right side or left side of driver would be cool.

 

[RaceFuchs]

Looks like a concept car straight from a scifi movie. Never expected this.

 

[McLaren]

So an aerodynamically superior version of F1 isn't worthy of drawing inspiration from just because it's too rare and obscure? Sheesh, I'm starting to get a feeling like you guys would only be satisfied if McLaren would've pulled a 911 and rolled out a nearly identical copy of F1.
I honestly didn't expect Speedtail's "homage to F1" to go beyond high top speed and 1+2 interior configuration. Anything beyond that, while probably cool, wouldn't be that neccessary.

The car is supposed to pay homage the company’s biggest car and it doesn’t beyond 2-3 shared statistics. Paying tribute to the GT is a stretch to begin with bc the long body is the only thing they share and the only reason the GT looks the way it does is because of the race car’s aerodynamics without the spoiler. The GT was a last minute thought that never got off the ground.

McLaren has already paid “tribute” to that car anyway with the LT designated models.

 

[Famine]

This (very dirty 'Shop) fixes most of my issues with the Speedtail's profile:

 

[sumbrownkid]

It looks ugly.

I like it. 👍

 

[ProjectWHaT]

 

[AudiMan2011]

It looks a bit plain compared to other 250mph cars. The rear deck looks like it could be used as a lounger since its about 6 miles long.

 

[SiriusR]

I'll just leave this here.

 

[bloodyboyblue]

The Aerotech returns

 

[Ande3200]

Dosent look very good in My opinion