McLaren Speedtail is 10mph faster than the 27-year old McLaren F1

The new McLaren Speedtail – McLaren’s spiritual successor to the McLaren F1 – hits 250mph in a series of 30 runs at the Kennedy Space Centre.

We might have thought the McLaren P1 was the spiritual successor to the mighty McLaren F1, but the new McLaren Speedtail is probably much closer.

With it ‘Longtail’ – just like the brace of McLaren F1 GTs – and its three-seat layout, it’s probably safe to call it the 21st century take on the F1.

Ahead of the first customer Speedtails heading for customers in February – the first of a 106-car run – McLaren has been off to the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida to do some high-speed runs, and the McLaren Hyper-GT prototype ‘XP2’ managed to set a top speed of 250mph more than 30 times during the testing. Which is mighty impressive.

McLaren boss Mike Flewitt said:

It’s fitting that the Speedtail’s high-speed test programme concluded with multiple maximum-speed runs at a location strongly associated with pushing the boundaries of extreme performance and engineering excellence.

The Speedtail is a truly extraordinary car that epitomises McLaren’s pioneering spirit and perfectly illustrates our determination to continue to set new benchmarks for supercar and hypercar performance.

Apart from the 250mph top speed, the Speedtail comes with 1,055bhp and can hit 186mph in just 13 seconds, is as long as a Mercedes S Class and carries a price tag of over £2 million. Despite which it’s all sold out.