10 Things You didn’t Know about the McLaren P1 GTR

If you love sports cars, you’re bound to love the McLaren P1 GTR. This is a car that is unfortunately no longer in production, but that doesn’t mean that the surviving examples are not worth talking about. It’s easily one of the most unique and best performing sports cars ever built, thanks to McLaren Automotive. If you want to know more about it, keep reading. There are 10 more interesting things about this car listed below.

1. It’s made in Britain

You might already know this one but if you don’t, it’s important that you realize that this is one of the premier sports cars ever made in Britain. It’s a source of a great deal of pride among British individuals, especially those that really love performance automobiles or any type of motorsport activity.

2. There aren’t that many of them

All in all, about 60 of these cars were originally planned to be built but when it was all said and done, only 35 were completed. That isn’t because there was anything wrong with the car, but because those who manufactured it realize what a collector’s item they really had on their hands. In addition, they made the choice to only complete the models that had been pre-ordered as opposed to building cars and then waiting for them to sell.

3. It’s designed to be more environmentally friendly

This car features a hybrid design that allows you to supplement the gasoline engine with an electric motor that’s plugged in. It’s definitely the first of its type for such a high-performance automobile. While it’s not really that uncommon to see hybrid cars, they’re usually small and they seriously lack performance capability. Seeing that feature on a car that’s capable of performing like this one is not something that most people are used to, to say the least.

4. It wasn’t in production for very long

Despite its overwhelming success and its ability to conquer just about anything that was thrown its way, it was only in production for a couple of years. The car started rolling out in 2013 and production ended and 2015, meaning that the production cycle wasn’t even a full two years in length.

5. It uses something called the MonoCage

The MonoCage has been used in other vehicles as well, and it remains one of the best known ways to ensure driver safety in a high-performance automobile. In short, it’s a cage made out of space-age material that’s practically indestructible, housing the driver and providing an elite form of protection. The rest of the car is then essentially built around it.

6. It’s a rear-wheel drive design

If you’ve ever driven a front-wheel drive car, you know that it’s not exactly a recipe for high performance. It’s much easier for the wheels in the rear to push the car than it is for the front wheels to pull it, because all that usually happens when you really get on the gas in a front-wheel drive car is spinning the tires. This rear-wheel drive design gave drivers an opportunity to get the most out of the power that was available to them.

7. The engine displacement is unique

If you’re talking about elite sports cars, the engine displacement may not seem all that unique to you, as it’s a mid-engine design. However, this is not a design that is frequently seen on the overwhelming majority of automobiles. It is something that is reserved for performance cars at the highest levels, mostly because it helps to distribute the weight evenly, making the car more stable and easier to control.

8. It has scissor-style doors

You wouldn’t expect a car like this to have doors that open in a standard fashion. The scissor doors opened straight up and down, and only served to add to the mystique and beauty that this car exhibits.

9. There is a special track-only version

When you first look at the car, you might think that every model built was built for the track and nothing else. It looks too fast to be street legal. The truth is, the first models built were actually designed to be driven on the streets. A separate, track-only version of the car was also produced. Perhaps the most interesting thing about it is that the track-only version outnumbers the street legal version by five automobiles, as there are 40 of these in existence.

10. It’s beaten some seriously good race cars

This is a car that’s gone head-to-head with both Porsche and Ferrari and it’s beaten them both. That’s definitely something that anyone would be proud to say about their own automobile and it says plenty about the people that designed and built this one.

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