24 years ago, McLaren released the hypercar that would define a generation. The 3-seater McLaren F1 was known not only for the odd seating configuration – which featured a central driver’s seat position – but for the gold-plated engine bay, the BMW-sourced V12, and of course the fact that it was the world’s fastest production motorcar (386km/h) for 12 years. It was only beaten, eventually, by the Bugatti Veyron – a legend in its own right. But now, 17 years after the last of 106 McLaren F1s was produced, MSO has confirmed a McLaren F1 successor is in the works!
Heritage to Live Up To:
Yip, the McLaren F1 is spawning a successor! Despite what many believed, the McLaren P1 was not the successor to the infamous F1. The P1 was an all-out hypercar, whereas the F1 was a GT car with space for three thanks to the unique seating configuration.
McLaren has confirmed that the new ‘Hyper-GT’ will be a true McLaren F1 successor by virtue of featuring the same 3-seat configuration. MSO (McLaren Special Operations) will be heading up the project, codenamed BP23. The codename stands for Bespoke Project 2, with the 3 representing the number of seats.
Like the original McLaren F1, BP23 will be built in a limited run of 106 units. Unfortunately, they’ve all been pre-sold.
Drivetrain Details:
Exact specifics haven’t been detailed just yet, but McLaren has confirmed that the McLaren F1 successor will feature a hybrid powertrain. Don’t expect something more powerful than the P1 though – MSO have been very specific in stating that BP23 will be “one of the most powerful McLarens yet”.
BP23 will likely feature a revised version of the familiar 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8 found across all other McLaren models; so we can expect final outputs to sit somewhere in between the 675PS (496kW) of the 675LT and the 917PS (674kW) of the P1 hypercar.
Legendary Design:
Obviously designing a successor to the McLaren F1 is no small task – the design orientated around the 3-seat configuration is legendary.
McLaren has already started design work and has given us the teaser image above, giving a very brief glimpse at what McLaren BP23 will look like. It doesn’t display much besides the 3-seat configuration, however with a bit of tweaking to the colour profiles (see image below) we can see current McLaren design elements coming through, such as the McLaren logo shaped headlamps.
Like all modern McLarens, the F1 successor will feature dihedral doors. However, for the first time ever, the door apertures will extend into the roof. Due to this, and the 3-seat configuration, the F1 successor will not be offered in any variant except a 2 door hard top coupe.
Scheduled Production:
Although the McLaren F1 successor has just been announced, McLaren have made it clear that the first deliveries will take place in early 2019. We can expect to see pre-production prototypes mid-way through 2018.
There’s a new Hyper-GT on the way – it’s the one we’ve lusted after since we were little kids. A new McLaren F1 has been a dream for so long – but McLaren are proving that perhaps dreams do come true.
