McLaren P1 – Driven by Jay Leno at the Top Gear track (video)

American TV host and comedian, Jay Leno, has become the first person outside McLaren to drive the new P1, taking to the Top Gear track at Dunsfold.

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We reported just a few days ago that the McLaren P1 has all but sold out, and one of those buyers is America’s petrolhead in chief, Jay Leno.

Even though Jay isn’t short of a few bob, he’s not going to be the wealthiest buyer of a P1 (by far), but his celebrity status has conferred on him something most P1 buyers won’t get – the chance to take to the Top Gear track at Dunsofold in the new P1 with McLaren’s Chris Goodwin (Chief Test Driver) riding shotgun.

Prior to the run round Dunsfold, Jay gets a tour of the new P1 production centre (perhaps the cleanest car production centre in the UK) before being whisked off to Dunsfold by helicopter.

Jay gets to play in full with the 903bhp P1, trying the P1 initially in standard road mode, but swapping to track mode half way through (if you miss the change on the video, the rigidity of the suspension in race mode is evident in Jay’s twitching).

Jay seems more than a little impressed with his new toy (which is the same Volcano Yellow as the car he’s driving at Dunsfold), and said:

Unbelievable. When I drove the MP4 12C I thought it was the best handling car ever. Double that for the P1. Oh my God, it’s the new F1.

We think Mr Leno is suitably impressed with the new McLaren P1.