McLaren News

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GPS tracking devices have been used by a car theft ring in the UK to steal vehicles, largely targeting those parked at airports. The gang used an insider member at the airport and cloning devices to replicate 'keyless entry' transponders for the cars, attached the trackers, and then stole the vehicles weeks or even months later.Police had for some time been left "scratching their heads" over the crimes, a court heard during the trial of members of the ring, according to a report in The Telegraph.The thieves also targeted vehicles in traffic, causing minor damage to them and then directing them to a repairer who was part of the ring, and who would clone the car's key -- and also fit a tracking device that would allow the theft to take place some time later.Targeted vehicles included an expensive McLaren and Bentley Continental, but were largely mid and upper-level premium brands, including more common Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar, Range Rover and Land Rover models.The gang was uncovered after police became suspicious about the repairer, and fitted up a 'Trojan' vehicle with recording devices and their own tracking unit, then took it to the body shop. The thieves discovered part of the tracking unit in the undercover vehicle and reversed their attempts to clone its keys. But unbeknownst to them the recording devices were still monitoring all their conversations, including discussions of the Trojan vehicle.The court was told more than 100 of the vehicles stolen were tracked as having been shipped to East Africa for sale. Only one has been recovered.This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott 

McLaren's legendary F1 hyper car was recently superseded by the P1, a 673kW twin turbo V8 hybrid speed monster. But it doesn't follow the F1 in the spirit of driving purity, according to the earlier car's creator, Gordon Murray.Murray designed and engineered the 1992 F1, but he is not excited by his former employer's new P1 hypercar. The heavy electric motors and computer assisted components don't excite his passion for driving, and nor does the relative weight of the P1 and its closest rivals – LaFerrari and Porsche 918.Instead he's planning a lightweight supercar, focused entirely on the driving experience. "I've got one more supercar left in me" he said to Motor Sport Magazine. The new Supercar would be limited to similar numbers as the F1, and would follow the same ethos.Murray designed and engineered the F1 as a driver focused, lightweight driving machine that held the title for fastest production Supercar until the Bugatti Veyron took over – more than a decade later. It had a central driving position, Formula 1 style, to maximise the driving experience. It also featured a manual transmission, and a 468kW, 6.1-litre BMW V12 engine with no turbos so as to not detract from the immediacy of power delivery.More importantly, it featured one of the first uses of a carbon fibre tub, which multiplied passenger cell strength while reducing weight – a technology that was still new in Formula 1 back then, and is still used in today's supercars. This resulted in a car that weighs just 1062kg, achieving a top speed of 391km/h, making it the fastest production McLaren yet – with the new P1 being limited to 350km/h.Before he left McLaren, Murray penned a strategy for the British supercar company, where the F1 would get replaced by a smaller, lighter naturally aspirated driving machine. However, technological advances, the need for more efficiency, safety and lower emissions lead to the creation of the P1 Hybrid hypercar instead.Murray expressed excitement at the challenge of a light new supercar that carries the spirit of the F1. "The fun and new challenge to me would be looking at this new brace of supercars, one-and-half-to-two tonnes, full of electrics and stuff, would be to dump all that and build a driver's car again", he said.But those who think Murray completely disdains electric power should know that among his his nine other car projects underway is a city car called MOTIV.e, powered by a 25kW, and 896Nm electric motor, capable of 105km/h. Plastic panels on a lightweight frame keeps mass down to 730kg, and allow for a 160km range. Yamaha intends to produce it, having shown the world a preview at the Tokyo Motor Show last November.For those who are excited by Murray's motivations but can't afford a new supercar, a cheaper sports car designed by Murray is due in 2017. The lightweight car will have similar simplicity and lightweight ideals as its supercar sibling, and will be joined later by several other cars, including an offroader. 

Despite the normally locked-down security at McLaren -- where it's forbidden to pass information internally on USBs for fear of leaks -- the new 650S has escaped online ahead of its debut at Geneva sh

The next season of Top Gear is just around the high-speed corner, and the hit car show has released an extended trailer to give us a taste of the action.It shows you can expect to see the stunning Alfa Romeo 4C facing off in one of the signature mismatch races, the completely insane six-wheeled Mercedes-Benz G63 AMG 6x6, the McLaren P1 supercar and a tank. For starters.Then there's a trek through Thailand and Burma with some luridly decorated trucks, plus there is tipped to be a segment featuring Australia's V8 Supercars. Garnish with some stars in a reasonably priced car, hot lap times from The Stig, and it looks like another recipe for vehicular viewing success.Watch the extended trailer to Top Gear season 21 on our desktop site. 

We know the McLaren P1 has been to the Nurburgring, and we know it’s lapped the famous circuit in anger. What we don’t know is just how fast it was around the Green Hell, which is the big question on the lips of most supercar fans.Porsche has proudly spruiked the 6:57 time achieved by its 918 Spyder, but McLaren’s ‘Ring video was notably devoid of a lap timer, causing many to concede that we may never know the exact figure.Rumours have suggested a 6:47 lap time, and McLaren have admitted to "considerably less than seven minutes", but Autocar reports that the actual time is at least seven seconds faster again.Speaking to an anonymous McLaren insider, the P1 is apparently “a fair bit quicker than that”, with a lap time between 6:30 and 6:40, which would put it at least 17 seconds faster than the Porsche 918 Spyder’s 6:57 official lap, at least 28 seconds faster than the 7:08 of the Nissan GT-R Nismo, and at least 8 seconds faster than the barely-legal Radical SR8 LM’s 6:48 current road-car record.While this is still no official claim from McLaren, it would appear that the British brand’s F1 successor has delivered on its performance promises, and could only be foreseeably toppled by Ferrari’s LaFerrari. However the Italian deity appears reluctant to grubby itself with such competition, despite the appearance of a camouflaged prototype at the circuit late last year.This reporter is on Twitter: @Mal_Flynn 

Polish car nut Jacek Mazur has snubbed the old warning “don’t touch what you can’t afford” by building his own backyard version of the famed – and rare -- McLaren F1 supercar.The amateur mechanic has built himself an impressive likeness to the highly collectible machine, which has increased in value tenfold in the 22 years since its introduction.“The McLaren was such a great car that when I saw it the first time I decided to build it,” Jacek says in a video covering his creation (below).Using just scrap and spare parts, the 48 year old spent eight years and just zl100,000 ($36,500) to build his replica, 250 times less than the US$8.47 million ($9.5 million) commanded by a genuine example at a US auction earlier this year.“I have been creating cars for the past 20 years now. I have built many types of cars previously, including a Porsche 911 and a Lamborghini Countach,” he says.Jacek is a health and safety advisor by trade, but still managed to construct his replica’s tubular chassis from scratch, along with expanding on the F1’s unique three-seat cabin layout.“The most difficult part of the building process was the construction of the frame and the positioning of the driver’s seat. I managed to squeeze in a fourth seat that I called the ‘Hammond-seat’.”The fourth seat is crammed behind the driver’s seat, leaving enough room for a passenger of similar staure to the pint-sized Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond.While Jacek chose not to use the F1’s 486kW 6.1-litre BMW V12 and, his replica’s Audi V8 engine and Mercedes brakes maintain some performance pedigree.While it may not be capable of the real McLaren’s record-breaking 386.5km/h top speed, Jacek claims the fruit of his labours will hit a credible 320km/h.“Many people will literally stop and stare and take a proper look at it. They will ask what model the car is. Even if it’s just a replica, it looks like the real deal.”On that basis, those who missed out on buying one of the already sold-out new McLaren P1 or LaFerrari supercars might be tempted to get onto Jacek…This reporter is on Twitter: @Mal_Flynn 

McLaren have let their hybrid P1 stretch its legs on a fast lap of the Nurburgring. Not fast enough, it seems, to have beaten the 6:57 record set by the Porsche 918 Spyder. But McLaren are claiming to have done the circuit in under 7 minutes -- they're just not giving us the details on how much under. And that suggests they've still got an eye on the Porsche's record (as does the LaFerrari). What McLaren does give us instead is a salute to the Nurburgring itself, with a video that asks -- and then answers -- the question of why it's so important to keep tackling what's acknowledged as the world's most difficult track, known as the Green Hell. Helming the P1 for the 20.8km lap is McLaren test driver Chris Goodwin, who in an accompanying statement talks us through some of the challenges of what he describes as a "rollercoaster from hell" on which he made a gear change on average every six seconds. "The acceleration from the Aremberg right hander down the Fuchsröhre is absolutely amazing. I have only experienced acceleration like this before in a Formula 1 car," Goodwin says. "This downhill snaking section of the track is taken flat, using DRS, shifting gear all the way down to the base of the valley, and the compression that follows applies the maximum vertical g-forces to the car. The forces really load the tyres, chassis and wing, but it is taken with only a slight lift of the throttle. "The numerous jumps that make the Nordschleife famous are an even bigger challenge than normal with the massive speeds we approach them. Flugplatz and Pflanzgarten are both taken at very high speed... "Through Bergwerk (the corner at which Niki Lauda had his infamous accident in the 1976 German GP), you have to turn in late in order to carry as much speed as you can onto the following straight without running wide. That is a quick section, and one that feels fantastic when you get it just right. "Stability is just as important as ultimate grip, and some of the bumpiest sections of the track are also the fastest. The relentless climb towards the Karussell is dealt with in a few spectacular moments ... at the top of the hill is one of the fastest corners on the lap, with a approach speed around 300km/h, The track is really bumpy here, but the corner is dispatched with a light dab of the brakes in fifth gear. "Cornering forces peak as the McLaren P1 drops onto the banked concrete surface at the Karussell, and swings round more than 180 degrees -- with the driver subjected to lateral g-forces of 3.9g -- before the final stages and sprint to the finish." They didn't have Goodwin add his commentary to the soundtrack, possibly because they didn't want to have anything interfere with the glorious noise as the P1 lets rip from its 673kW/978Nm combination of a 3.8-litre twin turbo V8 and an electric motor -- a marriage McLaren claims gets the car to 100km/h in just 2.8 seconds, 200km/h in 6.8 seconds and 300km/h in 16.5 seconds. But the official Nurburgring time, we'll still have to wait for. Watch the McLaren P1 hypercar going for a quick spin around the Nurburgring on our desktop site. This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott  

British supercar maker McLaren is riding a wave of big models, with the 12C and 12C Spider already out, the P1 just being launched -- and reportedly already sold out -- and the 3.8-litre V8-powered P13 sportscar in the works to face off against the Porsche 911.But now McLaren's design boss has suggested a hot hatch could be on the cards for the Woking line-up. Speaking with Dutch magazine Autovisie, head designer Frank Stephenson said he can invision something similar to the Volkswagen Golf."I see a car like the VW Golf for 30 to 40,000 EUR ($43,000-$58,000, however the Golf GTI sells here from $41,490), but for McLaren with a carbon fiber monocoque, to happen in the future," is reported as telling the magazine.And while he's designed the 12C and P1 for his current house -- and the F430 for Ferrari -- Stephenson's experience certainly doesn't stop at supercars. He also penned the BMW X5, Mini Cooper, Fiat 500 and Alfa Romeo Mi-To so a hot hatch could be a familiar drawing board snack for him.Stephenson also reportedly sledged Audi in the Autovise story, saying the German brand's design broth was spoilt by having too many chefs. "Groups are like a large oil tankers, it takes a lot of time to change the course. Too many people with different ideas that you have to convince, and designs that are toned too far," he said.This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott 

McLaren has collaborated with the creators of the upcoming driving simulator Forza Motorsport 5, to create a flipbook-style animation from a series of still images strung around the edge of a race circuit. Titled ‘FilmSpeed’, the footage was appropriately captured from the back of a McLaren MP4-12C supercar. It's hard to imagine a more impractical medium for highlighting the in-game action from Forza 5, but the result is certainly impressive.  The frames featuring the MP4-12C's big brother P1 supercar were attached to hundreds of carefully-spaced aluminium boards, and the MP4-12C was driven by stunt driver Tanner Foust at meticulously controlled speeds of up to 193km/h. The resulting zoetrope-effect gives an Alice in Wonderland-like view of Forza 5' gameplay, with the P1 lapping a virtual race circuit.    Watch the video here.