A render of the 2013 McLaren F1 / 799 (click for full size photo)
The next car in McLaren’s road car plan is the new McLaren F1 – which could be the McLaren 799 – due in 2013. More detail emerges.
It’s more than two years since we revealed that McLaren are planning on building a McLaren F1 road car for the 21st century. Planned to bring game-changing performance to the hypercar market, it will be McLaren’s halo car, sitting above the 458 Italia-bashing MP4-12C, and the yet-to-come McLaren which is aimed at the Porsche 911 and Audi R8.
What exactly McLaren are planning with the new F1 – which may be called the McLaren 799 – is still hidden deep in the minds and computers of McLaren’s elite. But Autocar say they’ve had a heads-up from reliable sources, so their musings on this are probably worth repeating.
Unlike the 1990s F1 which cost £640,000 (around £1 million today) the new F1 is expected to cost under £400,000. Which is a bit of a surprise, especially with cars like the Pagani Huayra costing almost £1 million (and very much not worth it) and the Veyron costing more than £1 million (and probably justified).
So it seems – if we’re to believe Autocar – that the new F1 will cost less than the Enzo replacement (the Ferrari F70 will probably be well over £500k), despite potentially offering more.
That ‘more’ includes active aerodynamics and rear air brake, a 799bhp 5.0 litre V8, carbon fibre Monocell (like the MP4-12C), aluminium pushrod suspension, ceramic brakes and plenty of electronic gizmos like Brake Steer and Brake Force Distribution and even software that lets you turn off all the driver aids – but only on a track.
All that should add up to a car that can take the fight to anything currently built. The 0-60mph is 2.8 seconds, 0-100mph in 5.5 seconds and 0-200mph in 20 seconds. And if the handling of the MP4-12C is anything to go by, the 799 will run rings round any of the other contenders for world’s fastest/best car.
The plan is to build up to 500 McLaren 799 (if indeed that’s the name) at the rate of a couple a week over a five year period starting in 2013.
Which all sounds extremely appealing.
David says
I thought the MP4-12C was the new F1? Perhaps the guys at CARS UK could get a better explanation? I understand that McLaren have announced a whole range of cars to take on the likes of Ferrari, but are they all going to be called ‘the new F1’??
CarsUK says
No, the MP4-12C was NEVER going to be the new F1. The MP4-12C was always designed to be a mainstream, production supercar to fight the likes of the 458 and Gallardo. There is also in development a McLaren aimed at the 911 and R8 and the halo car – the new McLaren F1. A three car range was always the plan.
PhilipJH says
If this is true and McLaren are going to build a new F1 for under £400,000, how the hell are people like Pagani and Koenigsegg going to stay in business? As far as I can see the simple answer to that is that they can’t.