• 

  McLaren P11 was snapped by Carparazzi this week while being driven by Chris Goodwin. (picture courtesy of Carparazzi) Photo Gallery

The deadliest rival to the Ferrari F458 Italia is more than just a dream.

The Italian company's worst nightmare, a McLaren P11 using a stream of grand prix technology to rival its own F1 input, is racing towards its on-sale date in 2010. The P11 is already a road-going reality that is now into serious testing work at the Nurburgring course in Germany ahead of its official preview later this year.

It was caught by Carparazzi this week while being driven by Chris Goodwin, a veteran race driver who led development on the Mercedes McLaren SLR supercar and also travelled the world giving hot laps to VIPs and potential buyers. Goodwin is easy to spot because of the signature fluoro paintjob on his helmet.

The disguised P11 prototype is far less elegant than the new Ferrari, but is expected to be just as quick with a Mercedes-made V8 engine with more than 400 kiloWatts and a range of go-faster systems taken from McLaren's Formula One team. A carbon fibre chassis and paddle- shift gearbox are almost mandatory, along with a range of low-drag aero parts.

Few details of the engine have emerged, apart from its basic layout, but it is expected to come from Mercedes-Benz's go-faster AMG division despite the split between the two companies over their supercar directions. Neither was happy with the SLR, which was too soft for McLaren and not luxurious enough for Benz.

So Mercedes is bringing back a Gullwing with its front-engined SLS by AMG, which will be previewed at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September ahead of sales next year, while McLaren is going more extreme with the mid-engined P11.

Sources in Britain point to a production start-up for the car in the first quarter of next year, under the direction of former F1 team boss Ron Dennis. He quit the grand prix world earlier this year in the fallout from the 'Lie-gate' scandal involving world champion Lewis Hamilton, but has since devoted himself to the McLaren road car business run from the same giant facility at Woking in the UK which houses the McLaren F1 team.

The P11 is carrying very little camouflage to disguise its wedge profile and giant side air intakes, which are exactly what you expect of a race-style mid-engined two-seater. But it's the final finishing that will make the difference for buyers and that will not be revealed until much later this year.