I've driven some amazing cars in my time, but there's one that really stands out from the crowd - the McLaren Speedtail. This car is like nothing else on the market, with its unique blend of speed, agility, and engineering marvels.

As I sat down to drive it for the first time, I couldn't help but feel a sense of trepidation. The Speedtail is a beast of a car, weighing in at just 1375 kilograms - that's remarkably light considering its size. And yet, despite its relatively modest weight, it feels surprisingly substantial, like a 720S turned up to the maximum rather than a completely standalone model.

But as I put my foot down and felt the power surge through the chassis, all doubts were quickly dispelled. The acceleration in this car is truly remarkable - it's like nothing else on the road. And yet, despite its incredible speed, the Speedtail feels remarkably light and agile, with a responsiveness that's simply unmatched.

As I got to know the Speedtail better, I started to realize just how cleverly McLaren had designed it. The interior is beautifully appointed, with every surface covered in premium leather and stitching that seems to go on forever. And yet, despite its luxurious feel, the car still manages to feel remarkably connected to the road - a true driving machine.

But the real star of the show is, of course, the performance. 800 horsepower and an acceleration time of just 3.1 seconds from 0-60mph are truly mind-boggling figures. And yet, despite its incredible power, the Speedtail still feels remarkably refined and composed - a true testament to McLaren's engineering prowess.

One thing that really stood out for me was how well the Speedtail handles in corners. The car is incredibly quick, but it also has a remarkable ability to rotate through even the tightest of turns. And yet, despite its incredible agility, it still manages to feel remarkably stable and composed - a true driving machine.

But what really sets the Speedtail apart from other cars on the market is its unique blend of performance and technology. McLaren's use of advanced materials and innovative engineering solutions has resulted in a car that feels truly like a work of art - every surface seems to be engineered for maximum grip, handling, and performance.

And yet, despite all its technological wizardry, the Speedtail still manages to feel remarkably connected to the driver. The steering is beautifully weighted, with just the right amount of feedback and resistance. And the brakes... well, let's just say that they're truly exceptional - a true testament to McLaren's commitment to performance.

One thing that really caught my attention was the way the Speedtail handles in different gear ranges. From 0-60mph, it's like a rocket ship blasting off into space - incredibly quick and relentless. And yet, as I crept up to 100mph, the car started to reveal its more subtle charms - a gentle tugging at the reins that seemed to whisper "slow down, you're getting close to something special".

Of course, one of the things that really makes the Speedtail stand out is its incredible top speed. With a quoted time of just 15.4 seconds from 0-186mph, this car truly feels like a rocket ship on wheels - and yet, despite all its incredible power, it still manages to feel remarkably refined and composed.

But what really sets the Speedtail apart from other cars is its unique blend of performance and technology. McLaren's use of advanced materials and innovative engineering solutions has resulted in a car that feels truly like a work of art - every surface seems to be engineered for maximum grip, handling, and performance. And yet, despite all this technological wizardry, the Speedtail still manages to feel remarkably connected to the driver.

As I continued to drive the Speedtail, one thing became increasingly clear: this is a car that truly feels like it was made for speed. Every component, every material, every aspect of its design seems to have been engineered with one goal in mind - to get you from point A to point B as quickly and efficiently as possible.

And yet, despite all this focus on performance, the Speedtail still manages to feel remarkably refined and composed. The interior is beautifully appointed, with every surface covered in premium leather and stitching that seems to go on forever. And the ride... well, let's just say that it's a true testament to McLaren's commitment to comfort - even at top speed, this car truly feels like a comfortable and relaxing drive.

But what really sets the Speedtail apart from other cars is its unique blend of performance and technology. McLaren's use of advanced materials and innovative engineering solutions has resulted in a car that feels truly like a work of art - every surface seems to be engineered for maximum grip, handling, and performance. And yet, despite all this technological wizardry, the Speedtail still manages to feel remarkably connected to the driver.

In short, the McLaren Speedtail is a true masterpiece - a car that's as much about driving as it is about performance. It's a true work of art, with every component, every material, and every aspect of its design seeming to have been engineered with one goal in mind: to deliver an unparalleled driving experience.

And yet, despite all its incredible power and technology, the Speedtail still manages to feel remarkably refined and composed - a true testament to McLaren's engineering prowess. Whether you're cruising at 100mph or pushing it hard through the twisties, this car truly feels like a joy to drive.

In short, the McLaren Speedtail is a car that truly stands out from the crowd - a true masterpiece of engineering, design, and performance.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: encan we talk ultimate series MacLaren's the one behind me is the latest it's called the McLaren Senna and if you call a car Senna it had better be good fortunately it is and it is the follow-up to this which is the p1 you'll remember one of the Holy Trinity of hyper cars alongside the laferrari and the Porsche 918 Spyder now I mention ultimate series MacLaren's today and this week in particular because 25 years ago this week we tested the McLaren that started it all now it wasn't an ultimate series because there wasn't a series of MacLaren's then it was the one the only McLaren Road car of the time it was the f1 into this film then we're going to try and put this extraordinary lineage into some kind of context by driving the f1 p1 and Senna back to back now we can't bring you a film on ultimate series MacLaren's every week much as we'd like to but this is part of an ongoing auto car heroes series that looks back at some of our favorite cars of all time so hit subscribe below turn on notifications and you'll never miss one the auto car invented the road test we did the first one in 1928 and we've been measuring weighing accelerating lapping and braking vehicles every week ever since I mean I don't mean braking braking Maclaren would only ever allow one set of independent numbers to be put against the f1 so 25 years ago we made the case that it should be us inventors of the road test who should obtain them and McLaren agreed so this is it then this is where the modern era McLaren road cars if you like started and all right we haven't done the old road going the Clarins of Bruce McLaren zero and we haven't done the Mercedes the lookbook SLR I think the lineage really for ultimate series goes f1 p17 so we'll see what they're like in a minute but for now I got what a place to be and actually what a lovely place to be this car is 25 years old this is the very chassis xp5 the very car that did auto cars road tests numbers and it was here at Bruntingthorpe proving ground where we are today that auto car took XP v to over 200 miles an hour in 1994 McLaren estimates there are only five or six F ones in regular use today of the 64 that were built this isn't one of them XP 5 was MacLaren's experimental prototype hence XP and has come out of storage for this story after three years it's the very same car that was driven by Andy Wallace at Errol essien in Germany to record a world record-breaking 243 mile an hour top speed today xp5 is valued at something like 25 million pounds I'm just cruising to get used to it but it's so lovely the driving position is spot-on it doesn't feel weird being in the middle you get these wonderful little seats that actually so I can take two people if I want to visibility is absolutely terrific got a mirror a mirror here two on the outside as well so although I can't see straight over my head I've got really really strong visibility small pillars big window area and everything's just so easy because the control weights are just so perfect the throttle pedal is a tiny bit sticky that there's a real heft to everything a real linear effort to everything because everything is unassisted behind that famous three seat cockpit there is a naturally aspirated 6.1 liter v12 built by BMW Motorsport that was BMWs task make it 100 horsepower per liter well they exceeded that it's got 627 horsepower from its 6.1 liters and more than 479 pounds foot of torque all the way from 4,000 to 7,000 rpm there is a tiny aluminium flywheel on it and it drives through a six-speed manual gearbox the steering is unassisted because the car I think when we weighed it it was about eleven hundred kilos with half a tank of fuel so the original target was a thousand kilos the team led by Gordon Murray just missed that but not by a great deal there are double wishbones at each corner anti-roll bars front and back and fat tires on each wheel originally the f1 ran custom-made Goodyear - 3545 section rubber at the front and 3-1 545 behind but now xB five runs on Michelin's built to replicate the original tires properties and you can tell the minute you turn this unassisted wheel you can tell this is a light car imagine a car with a six liter engine today managing to be as light as that it's unthinkable literally unthinkable the packaging is that in this is really very good God marries a tall man he can get in this easily when you see it with the doors up ingress is actually very easy but there are 2 structural carbon-fiber rails that you have to wake yourself over which means it's a little difficult to get into the middle seat every McLaren since this has been carbon fiber the driving position is dead straight the seat goes backwards and forwards but the steering wheel does not move or on that engineered moment and it means that everything is right within easy reach I mean as a driving environment it's really terrific Gordon Murray set out to build the greatest Road car of all time he didn't set out to build the fastest car of all time it was just supposed to be the greatest Road car now reason number one that we're not out testing this car on the public road is the fact that this car is worth about 25 million pounds reason number two that's a three to five thousand rpm inferred on a very light throttle we've got a kilometer per hour speedometer and let's just here Oh My giddy are the response of that going up and coming down as well I mean on down shifts the throttle response on that is off the scale oh my goodness just take that through the gears again I think because why not Oh there was a German banker thomas fisher who had one of these he was one of the guys who came up with the idea of racing one in fact and there was a time in the sort of mid-1990s when he took it in for a service and then he got a phone call from Woking and the McLaren a excuse said look Thomas there appears to be something wrong with your f1 because the black box keeps showing up these numbers every single day and nobody else finds this it may be something wrong with it numbers like 220 miles an hour 215 miles an hour just happens daily anyway yeah I use it to commute to work I go in the autobahn I do it every day and I'll be ringing the absolute neck of it every single day and you know what you would it is absolutely unbelievably compelling to the extent that I'm just about to say I think this is the best car I have ever driven it has stuff that you don't get in today's cars that engine response maybe a Ferrari as it maybe a Lamborghini as it but what it doesn't do they do not combine it with that manual gearshift this central driving position this nimbleness and compactness and modern Ferrari does feel agile because the steering's heavily assisted and very light they really do change direction amazingly well but this just has a raw honesty about everything now clearly we can't launch this car from rest the insurance sum is already mind blowing and clutches on F ones are expensive not really expensive they contain carbon and they wear out extremely quickly so we can't do a full standing start even though this car has been beautifully maintained by McLaren it's just not you just can't do it but what I will do is run it through the gears from a rolling start and I'll reach some numbers on the speedo and will give you the numbers that this car achieved in 1994 against the stopwatch I see I have it at home the sheet of paper that got printed out from its run the numbers are very small and the speeds get big very quickly so this is second gear at just over 2,000 rpm I feel take full throttle I think it will those on her nighties look at the speed oaks it was incredible to 220 case nor deny the f1 accelerates from nought to sixty miles an hour into 3.2 seconds to a hundred in 6.3 to 150 in 12.8 to 170 in just 17 point 2 seconds and it will pass a standing quarter-mile in 11 seconds at 138 miles an hour now bear in mind it has no traction control no launch control requires for power off gear changes with a manual shift and even so between naught and a hundred and seventy miles an hour it is only 1.5 seconds slower than a McLaren 720's once you're gonna be a feet into the brakes and you start to lean on the pedal a bit more so let's go and look at the other two see them see well their likes feel the speed how many fair anything like as good as this twenty years after the road test of the f1 in 2014 auto car Road tested the McLaren p1 and oh my god it is loud and it is stiff there are loads of different modes you can select in here I've put it in race which wax down the suspension and it whacks up the rear wing because well if you're gonna be in a p1 you might as well have the full angry experience and it is slightly hard to believe this car is seven years old because it still feels so fresh and so modern and so complicated and what I love about this car what I loved about it when it was view of what I loved about it still now all of the engineering complexity was really genuinely put in your face for you to explore so as well as MacLaren's usual slightly over complex modes of putting the car into each different gearbox and transmission and suspension settings it also has another couple of buttons one is race but there's also this tremendously called boost function so if I press boost a little light comes on and it limits the amount of power I'm getting to adjust the engine power and then actually actually have the power because I like push the pause button to get the full electric boost as well you can even put the car in 2d mode and drive it on it's electric motor alone unlike some hybrid cars which kind of tried to disguise the fact that they are part electrified McLaren just went absolutely to town from in this and said yeah if you want to feel it we will let you feel absolutely everything in each individual modes the p1 is powered by a twin-turbo 3.8 liter v8 although similar to that in other MacLaren's we saw before and after it the block is unique strengthened and modified to accommodate a hybrid electric motor on its own the flat plane crank v8 generates 727 horsepower the electric motor adds another 176 horsepower making a fairly staggering 903 horsepower total this means the P one's engine is more than 2 litres smaller than the one in the f1 yet the car produces 276 more horsepower that is fast that is that's really fat levels have been a drag reduction system button because f1 was all about drag reduction at the time it still feels such a special special car completely unique so I don't remember the floor a around those three might be cars the 918 we wrote tested an auto car and it was quick around the circuit than this car which we also wrote tested we never managed to road test the laferrari fact sadly I didn't get to drive the laferrari at all but if it comes down to 918 or p1 my favorite and I believe the favorite of a lot of those who have tried them all the big one is such an astonishingly special thing it's so quick that is so so quick but also it steers absolutely beautifully power assistant unlike the f1 power brakes unlike the f1 and of course a flat plane crank with turbo charges doesn't quite make the same noise as the naturally aspirated v12 but I love the fact that you get all of the whistles and the Zing's of the bushes and everything you hear from the turbochargers and the electric assistance and it's just left there for you to see in in a similar fashion to the Interior which has this big swooping but obviously very structural carbon-fiber everywhere what the p1 does and what I think is the really special thing about all of these limited run MacLaren's is that they just present the engineers your face and go there you go see feel and enjoy that how fast exactly well 20 years on from the f1 it's a testament to that car's performance but it is still a relevant benchmark but the p1 is a bit quicker everywhere nought to 60 takes 2.8 seconds 100 just 5.2 seconds and it'll deal with a standing quarter-mile in ten point two seconds as about point eight of a second faster than the f1 at one hundred and forty seven point five miles an hour that's ten miles an hour faster for the Road testing it was the fastest thing that we had driven to that point and I remember doing the laps sometimes we need to get in a car and you do some blacks and you get to the end and you think I'd quite happily stay out all day doing those sometimes you're sort of glad to hand the car back over at the p1 I'm sort of slightly taller thinking I would really love to have the ability the money to run a car like this all day every day just chip away a lap time and any time you do a track day cry you would just take this and half of the time if you're like but to the same extent when it boosts it boosts is quite big and although it's docile although it's playable or below it feels in a way like a massive great go-kart with a loads of adjustability it's also a very very serious piece of get I love it to bits I really do love it to bits this car I'm not a fan of all new supercars and hyper cars I don't think they all offer something special god this is so lovely even today feels fantastic that's so good it's a very different experience to an f1 another five years after the p1 road test I have a sinner in race mode and ready to go so let's put it in manual just at low speeds over the Raffles it's pinging up the stones and so on and so forth this feels like a stripped out car does it feel as special inside as a p1 I don't know there's no logical reason why it doesn't somehow it isn't it's just as loud but the noise in his making is Dermot Aaron v8 noise present p1 you get the whoosh is the boosts the fizzies that pops the wheezes and more to lament all fields on the Senate but that said it does feel tied down a race wall and light light on its feet weighing just 1375 kilos this is a car that is lighter than p1 although not as not as an f1 that's just the inevitability of modern vehicles and its size is a spacious car it's a comfortable car I've done a good driving position in some ways who feels like a 720s turned up to the maximum rather than a completely standalone model and I know even a p1 isn't a completely standalone because it uses the carbon tub it has the v8 basis but somehow it feels like its own thing the center rather than feeling like it's over thing it was like an expense the acceleration in the p1 felt remarkably urgent you know what this might even be louder than a p1 I've got harnesses rattling which probably doesn't help let's get into a low gear and give these everything oh yeah okay Zagreb yeah okay fine that's for the low gear to about 150 but it just does it in brutal linearity and really just there's very little inertia it just picks up and it goes it really is something the sinners acceleration times then R naught to 60 in 3.1 seconds naught to 100 in 5.5 naught to 170 miles an hour in 15.4 and a standing quarter of ten point four seconds at one hundred and forty eight point two miles an hour just a fraction slower than a p1 but it's worth remembering that the center was more about lap times than straight-line acceleration hence its light weight huge arrow and the fact that it went round our handling circuit for our road test far quicker than the p1 it feels like the sort of car that gets better and better the faster you are prepared to push it what does that reptil I can barely sing because it gets around man so quick our resolve 800-horsepower who's reading three months to 8,000 it's a fine finding speed but whereas in a p1 what strikes you is all of that raw interesting engineering presented in your face that makes it farm at 20 miles an hour in the same way that it's fun at 150 160 miles an hour although there's stuff to enjoy about the center if you're not absolutely on it what it does is really comes alive when you absolutely are immediacy in the urgency are fabulous and then take all of the lacquer a moment and just spit it out your mind as you would in a racing car carving those townships and fabulous the breaks are brilliant the drug positions good in the steering remember McLaren retains hydraulics theory under the f1 had no power assistance adsorbent they still retain hydraulic power assistance today because it just offers you a feel of feedback that you heard that you can't get from an e pass system it's special and unique in its own way this car it doesn't feel as special to me as a as a as a p1 or an f1 but I think we'll get back in the f1 and have some kind of back into it like an old pair of slippers absolutely like you are your best trainers just fits immediately just feel so natural it just feels so wonderful it's much less roar than the other two particularly the center and it's involving and engaging and they're amazingly fast I love the p1 absolutely adore the p1 I love how much engineering is in your face and lift just open for you to feel and I like the rawness in the center and that it gets better as it gets faster and I suspect if you said well here's a race circuit here are the three cars go as fast as you can which you're gonna pick well you might not be the f1 first you might pick the center first then the B 1 then the f1 but if you said to a car person which is the best drivers car which gives you the the biggest feeling that you are in something impossibly special there's only one answer in 1994 when my colleagues wrote tested this car they said well we may never see anything else like it we may never see a car this fast again well took a little while but we did see cars that fast again and now the power levels of this car it's acceleration in gear off the line even top speed there are a few cars around but better it but in terms of feel and involvement and engage them and drivability and just how sodding easy is to absolutely love it's just I never driven a car as great now we can't promise you ultimate series McLaren's every week but if you've enjoyed this please consider giving us an up them subscribing or turning on notifications so that you will never miss one thank you for watching we'll be back very soon with more Otto Gahr heroescan we talk ultimate series MacLaren's the one behind me is the latest it's called the McLaren Senna and if you call a car Senna it had better be good fortunately it is and it is the follow-up to this which is the p1 you'll remember one of the Holy Trinity of hyper cars alongside the laferrari and the Porsche 918 Spyder now I mention ultimate series MacLaren's today and this week in particular because 25 years ago this week we tested the McLaren that started it all now it wasn't an ultimate series because there wasn't a series of MacLaren's then it was the one the only McLaren Road car of the time it was the f1 into this film then we're going to try and put this extraordinary lineage into some kind of context by driving the f1 p1 and Senna back to back now we can't bring you a film on ultimate series MacLaren's every week much as we'd like to but this is part of an ongoing auto car heroes series that looks back at some of our favorite cars of all time so hit subscribe below turn on notifications and you'll never miss one the auto car invented the road test we did the first one in 1928 and we've been measuring weighing accelerating lapping and braking vehicles every week ever since I mean I don't mean braking braking Maclaren would only ever allow one set of independent numbers to be put against the f1 so 25 years ago we made the case that it should be us inventors of the road test who should obtain them and McLaren agreed so this is it then this is where the modern era McLaren road cars if you like started and all right we haven't done the old road going the Clarins of Bruce McLaren zero and we haven't done the Mercedes the lookbook SLR I think the lineage really for ultimate series goes f1 p17 so we'll see what they're like in a minute but for now I got what a place to be and actually what a lovely place to be this car is 25 years old this is the very chassis xp5 the very car that did auto cars road tests numbers and it was here at Bruntingthorpe proving ground where we are today that auto car took XP v to over 200 miles an hour in 1994 McLaren estimates there are only five or six F ones in regular use today of the 64 that were built this isn't one of them XP 5 was MacLaren's experimental prototype hence XP and has come out of storage for this story after three years it's the very same car that was driven by Andy Wallace at Errol essien in Germany to record a world record-breaking 243 mile an hour top speed today xp5 is valued at something like 25 million pounds I'm just cruising to get used to it but it's so lovely the driving position is spot-on it doesn't feel weird being in the middle you get these wonderful little seats that actually so I can take two people if I want to visibility is absolutely terrific got a mirror a mirror here two on the outside as well so although I can't see straight over my head I've got really really strong visibility small pillars big window area and everything's just so easy because the control weights are just so perfect the throttle pedal is a tiny bit sticky that there's a real heft to everything a real linear effort to everything because everything is unassisted behind that famous three seat cockpit there is a naturally aspirated 6.1 liter v12 built by BMW Motorsport that was BMWs task make it 100 horsepower per liter well they exceeded that it's got 627 horsepower from its 6.1 liters and more than 479 pounds foot of torque all the way from 4,000 to 7,000 rpm there is a tiny aluminium flywheel on it and it drives through a six-speed manual gearbox the steering is unassisted because the car I think when we weighed it it was about eleven hundred kilos with half a tank of fuel so the original target was a thousand kilos the team led by Gordon Murray just missed that but not by a great deal there are double wishbones at each corner anti-roll bars front and back and fat tires on each wheel originally the f1 ran custom-made Goodyear - 3545 section rubber at the front and 3-1 545 behind but now xB five runs on Michelin's built to replicate the original tires properties and you can tell the minute you turn this unassisted wheel you can tell this is a light car imagine a car with a six liter engine today managing to be as light as that it's unthinkable literally unthinkable the packaging is that in this is really very good God marries a tall man he can get in this easily when you see it with the doors up ingress is actually very easy but there are 2 structural carbon-fiber rails that you have to wake yourself over which means it's a little difficult to get into the middle seat every McLaren since this has been carbon fiber the driving position is dead straight the seat goes backwards and forwards but the steering wheel does not move or on that engineered moment and it means that everything is right within easy reach I mean as a driving environment it's really terrific Gordon Murray set out to build the greatest Road car of all time he didn't set out to build the fastest car of all time it was just supposed to be the greatest Road car now reason number one that we're not out testing this car on the public road is the fact that this car is worth about 25 million pounds reason number two that's a three to five thousand rpm inferred on a very light throttle we've got a kilometer per hour speedometer and let's just here Oh My giddy are the response of that going up and coming down as well I mean on down shifts the throttle response on that is off the scale oh my goodness just take that through the gears again I think because why not Oh there was a German banker thomas fisher who had one of these he was one of the guys who came up with the idea of racing one in fact and there was a time in the sort of mid-1990s when he took it in for a service and then he got a phone call from Woking and the McLaren a excuse said look Thomas there appears to be something wrong with your f1 because the black box keeps showing up these numbers every single day and nobody else finds this it may be something wrong with it numbers like 220 miles an hour 215 miles an hour just happens daily anyway yeah I use it to commute to work I go in the autobahn I do it every day and I'll be ringing the absolute neck of it every single day and you know what you would it is absolutely unbelievably compelling to the extent that I'm just about to say I think this is the best car I have ever driven it has stuff that you don't get in today's cars that engine response maybe a Ferrari as it maybe a Lamborghini as it but what it doesn't do they do not combine it with that manual gearshift this central driving position this nimbleness and compactness and modern Ferrari does feel agile because the steering's heavily assisted and very light they really do change direction amazingly well but this just has a raw honesty about everything now clearly we can't launch this car from rest the insurance sum is already mind blowing and clutches on F ones are expensive not really expensive they contain carbon and they wear out extremely quickly so we can't do a full standing start even though this car has been beautifully maintained by McLaren it's just not you just can't do it but what I will do is run it through the gears from a rolling start and I'll reach some numbers on the speedo and will give you the numbers that this car achieved in 1994 against the stopwatch I see I have it at home the sheet of paper that got printed out from its run the numbers are very small and the speeds get big very quickly so this is second gear at just over 2,000 rpm I feel take full throttle I think it will those on her nighties look at the speed oaks it was incredible to 220 case nor deny the f1 accelerates from nought to sixty miles an hour into 3.2 seconds to a hundred in 6.3 to 150 in 12.8 to 170 in just 17 point 2 seconds and it will pass a standing quarter-mile in 11 seconds at 138 miles an hour now bear in mind it has no traction control no launch control requires for power off gear changes with a manual shift and even so between naught and a hundred and seventy miles an hour it is only 1.5 seconds slower than a McLaren 720's once you're gonna be a feet into the brakes and you start to lean on the pedal a bit more so let's go and look at the other two see them see well their likes feel the speed how many fair anything like as good as this twenty years after the road test of the f1 in 2014 auto car Road tested the McLaren p1 and oh my god it is loud and it is stiff there are loads of different modes you can select in here I've put it in race which wax down the suspension and it whacks up the rear wing because well if you're gonna be in a p1 you might as well have the full angry experience and it is slightly hard to believe this car is seven years old because it still feels so fresh and so modern and so complicated and what I love about this car what I loved about it when it was view of what I loved about it still now all of the engineering complexity was really genuinely put in your face for you to explore so as well as MacLaren's usual slightly over complex modes of putting the car into each different gearbox and transmission and suspension settings it also has another couple of buttons one is race but there's also this tremendously called boost function so if I press boost a little light comes on and it limits the amount of power I'm getting to adjust the engine power and then actually actually have the power because I like push the pause button to get the full electric boost as well you can even put the car in 2d mode and drive it on it's electric motor alone unlike some hybrid cars which kind of tried to disguise the fact that they are part electrified McLaren just went absolutely to town from in this and said yeah if you want to feel it we will let you feel absolutely everything in each individual modes the p1 is powered by a twin-turbo 3.8 liter v8 although similar to that in other MacLaren's we saw before and after it the block is unique strengthened and modified to accommodate a hybrid electric motor on its own the flat plane crank v8 generates 727 horsepower the electric motor adds another 176 horsepower making a fairly staggering 903 horsepower total this means the P one's engine is more than 2 litres smaller than the one in the f1 yet the car produces 276 more horsepower that is fast that is that's really fat levels have been a drag reduction system button because f1 was all about drag reduction at the time it still feels such a special special car completely unique so I don't remember the floor a around those three might be cars the 918 we wrote tested an auto car and it was quick around the circuit than this car which we also wrote tested we never managed to road test the laferrari fact sadly I didn't get to drive the laferrari at all but if it comes down to 918 or p1 my favorite and I believe the favorite of a lot of those who have tried them all the big one is such an astonishingly special thing it's so quick that is so so quick but also it steers absolutely beautifully power assistant unlike the f1 power brakes unlike the f1 and of course a flat plane crank with turbo charges doesn't quite make the same noise as the naturally aspirated v12 but I love the fact that you get all of the whistles and the Zing's of the bushes and everything you hear from the turbochargers and the electric assistance and it's just left there for you to see in in a similar fashion to the Interior which has this big swooping but obviously very structural carbon-fiber everywhere what the p1 does and what I think is the really special thing about all of these limited run MacLaren's is that they just present the engineers your face and go there you go see feel and enjoy that how fast exactly well 20 years on from the f1 it's a testament to that car's performance but it is still a relevant benchmark but the p1 is a bit quicker everywhere nought to 60 takes 2.8 seconds 100 just 5.2 seconds and it'll deal with a standing quarter-mile in ten point two seconds as about point eight of a second faster than the f1 at one hundred and forty seven point five miles an hour that's ten miles an hour faster for the Road testing it was the fastest thing that we had driven to that point and I remember doing the laps sometimes we need to get in a car and you do some blacks and you get to the end and you think I'd quite happily stay out all day doing those sometimes you're sort of glad to hand the car back over at the p1 I'm sort of slightly taller thinking I would really love to have the ability the money to run a car like this all day every day just chip away a lap time and any time you do a track day cry you would just take this and half of the time if you're like but to the same extent when it boosts it boosts is quite big and although it's docile although it's playable or below it feels in a way like a massive great go-kart with a loads of adjustability it's also a very very serious piece of get I love it to bits I really do love it to bits this car I'm not a fan of all new supercars and hyper cars I don't think they all offer something special god this is so lovely even today feels fantastic that's so good it's a very different experience to an f1 another five years after the p1 road test I have a sinner in race mode and ready to go so let's put it in manual just at low speeds over the Raffles it's pinging up the stones and so on and so forth this feels like a stripped out car does it feel as special inside as a p1 I don't know there's no logical reason why it doesn't somehow it isn't it's just as loud but the noise in his making is Dermot Aaron v8 noise present p1 you get the whoosh is the boosts the fizzies that pops the wheezes and more to lament all fields on the Senate but that said it does feel tied down a race wall and light light on its feet weighing just 1375 kilos this is a car that is lighter than p1 although not as not as an f1 that's just the inevitability of modern vehicles and its size is a spacious car it's a comfortable car I've done a good driving position in some ways who feels like a 720s turned up to the maximum rather than a completely standalone model and I know even a p1 isn't a completely standalone because it uses the carbon tub it has the v8 basis but somehow it feels like its own thing the center rather than feeling like it's over thing it was like an expense the acceleration in the p1 felt remarkably urgent you know what this might even be louder than a p1 I've got harnesses rattling which probably doesn't help let's get into a low gear and give these everything oh yeah okay Zagreb yeah okay fine that's for the low gear to about 150 but it just does it in brutal linearity and really just there's very little inertia it just picks up and it goes it really is something the sinners acceleration times then R naught to 60 in 3.1 seconds naught to 100 in 5.5 naught to 170 miles an hour in 15.4 and a standing quarter of ten point four seconds at one hundred and forty eight point two miles an hour just a fraction slower than a p1 but it's worth remembering that the center was more about lap times than straight-line acceleration hence its light weight huge arrow and the fact that it went round our handling circuit for our road test far quicker than the p1 it feels like the sort of car that gets better and better the faster you are prepared to push it what does that reptil I can barely sing because it gets around man so quick our resolve 800-horsepower who's reading three months to 8,000 it's a fine finding speed but whereas in a p1 what strikes you is all of that raw interesting engineering presented in your face that makes it farm at 20 miles an hour in the same way that it's fun at 150 160 miles an hour although there's stuff to enjoy about the center if you're not absolutely on it what it does is really comes alive when you absolutely are immediacy in the urgency are fabulous and then take all of the lacquer a moment and just spit it out your mind as you would in a racing car carving those townships and fabulous the breaks are brilliant the drug positions good in the steering remember McLaren retains hydraulics theory under the f1 had no power assistance adsorbent they still retain hydraulic power assistance today because it just offers you a feel of feedback that you heard that you can't get from an e pass system it's special and unique in its own way this car it doesn't feel as special to me as a as a as a p1 or an f1 but I think we'll get back in the f1 and have some kind of back into it like an old pair of slippers absolutely like you are your best trainers just fits immediately just feel so natural it just feels so wonderful it's much less roar than the other two particularly the center and it's involving and engaging and they're amazingly fast I love the p1 absolutely adore the p1 I love how much engineering is in your face and lift just open for you to feel and I like the rawness in the center and that it gets better as it gets faster and I suspect if you said well here's a race circuit here are the three cars go as fast as you can which you're gonna pick well you might not be the f1 first you might pick the center first then the B 1 then the f1 but if you said to a car person which is the best drivers car which gives you the the biggest feeling that you are in something impossibly special there's only one answer in 1994 when my colleagues wrote tested this car they said well we may never see anything else like it we may never see a car this fast again well took a little while but we did see cars that fast again and now the power levels of this car it's acceleration in gear off the line even top speed there are a few cars around but better it but in terms of feel and involvement and engage them and drivability and just how sodding easy is to absolutely love it's just I never driven a car as great now we can't promise you ultimate series McLaren's every week but if you've enjoyed this please consider giving us an up them subscribing or turning on notifications so that you will never miss one thank you for watching we'll be back very soon with more Otto Gahr heroes\n"