McLaren Automotive is a relative newcomer to the supercar industry. Unlike Porsche (founded in 1931), Ferrari (founded in 1947), and Mercedes-Benz (founded in 1926), New Zealand race car driver Bruce McLaren created the British car manufacturer in 1963.

During its short, albeit rich history of success and innovation, the McLaren racing team accumulated an extraordinary record of victories.

The team’s first F1 car, the M2B, debuted at the Monaco Grand Prix in 1965, and just three years later, McLaren earned its first Grand Prix race win at Spa-Francorchamps, Belgian.

In the 1960s, the McLaren Racing Team not only achieved success in Formula One, but it also excelled in other motorsport categories. In 1967, McLaren won five out of six Can-Am series races. In 1968, the team followed the previous year’s success with four wins out of six races, and then in 1969, McLaren swept all 11 races of the season with victories.

In 1970, Bruce McLaren died in his Can-Am car when he crashed at the Goodwood Circuit in England. After the loss, Teddy Mayer took over leadership of the McLaren team and went on to win his first F1 constructors’ championship in 1974. The success was followed by Emerson Fittipaldi piloting the car to a victory in the drivers’ championship in 1974, and James Hunt won again in 1976.

The McLaren team racked up victory after victory in the 1980s with drivers Aryton Senna, Alain Prost, and Niki Lauda.

In 1988, McLaren won all but one F1 race, but perhaps just as important, in the same year, the team began to develop a new car, the famous street-legal McLaren F1 supercar. The company built 106 cars with a launch in 1992.

McLaren Continues as a Top Team in Formula One Racing

Lewis Hamilton in the 2008 McLaren F1 car
Via: Wikimedia

After exceptional racing success in the late 1900s, McLaren continued in the 2000s with record wins.

When Lewis Hamilton drove to victory in 2008, he became the youngest driver to win the title and the first driver from Great Britain to win the World Championship since Damon Hill accomplished the feat in 1996.

In 2012, McLaren won the USA Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, setting a record for wins. The McLaren website says the victory marked “…more Grand Prix [victories] than any other Constructor since the team first appeared in Formula 1 at Monaco, 1966.”

In 2010, a split into two divisions resulted in McLaren Automotive on the production side and McLaren Racing with focusing on race events.

The company launched the 12C in 2011, the first production car completely designed and built by McLaren since the F1. But the real successor to the F1 was introduced in 2013.

To compete with the Porsche 918 and the Ferrari LaFerrari, McLaren’s P1 leveraged technology from the Formula One and hybrid power, making it one of the most powerful and fastest road cars available.

The McLaren P1 Succeeds the Highly Successful F1

the F1 was the greatest supercar of all time
Via: Wikipedia

The McLaren F1 road car is a high-performance engineering marvel. When it was launched, some experts claimed the F1 was the greatest supercar of all time.

Equipped with a 618 hp, naturally aspirated BMW S70 V-12 mated to a six-speed manual transmission that propels the car to 60mph in 3.2 seconds and 100mph in 6.3 seconds on its way to a record-breaking top speed of 240mph. No other naturally aspirated supercar goes faster.

Although the F1 was not designed as a track car, a modified version won several races, competing against purpose-built prototype race cars.

However, not satisfied with the already exceptional performance of the F1, McLaren introduced the P1 to take things up a notch, but it needed a different power train to do so.

Although the Speedtail model chronologically succeeded the F1, the P1 was considered the true successor when it was introduced in 2012. The mid-engined, carbon-fiber MonoCell fitted with a 3.8-liter twin-turbo V-8 generating 727 hp configured with an electric motor producing 177 horsepower for a total of 903 hp and 723 lb.-ft of torque, putting the P1 in a class with the best hypercars.

The McLaren P1 is ridiculously fast with an electrically limited top speed of 217 mph. The hypercar accelerates from 0 to 60 mph in 2.7 seconds and will reach 124 mph in a blistering 6.8 seconds.

During the production run, only 375 McLaren P1s were made. Each car was a unique, custom build and, on average, required 17 days from start to finish.

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The Track-Only McLaren P1 GTR Celebrates a Win at Le Mans

McLaren made the GTR available only to P1 owners in a limited production of only 58 units
Via: Motor Passion Mexico

To celebrate the 1995 Le Mans victory, McLaren decided to produce a special track-only P1 GTR.

Without road-car regulations limiting performance, the P1 GTR pushes the envelope. A mid-mounted engine produces 986bhp and features an ERS-style push-to-pass system that provides the driver with a boost in power for short periods of time. The system enables the driver to overtake a competitor during a race.

The large fixed rear wing functions with a Formula 1-derived Drag Reduction System, and the GTR uses a race-prepared suspension sitting at a fixed ride height over 19-inch motorsport alloy wheels.

At the conclusion of the regular P1 run, McLaren made the GTR available only to P1 owners in a limited production of only 58 units.

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the Lanzante P1 LM lapped the famous Nürburgring in a mere six minutes and 43.22 seconds
Via: Motor Authority

While the standard McLaren P1 has been out of production for several years, the supercar lives on in the form of an aftermarket hypercar modified by British motorsport and engineering firm Lanzante.

The LM version includes modifications like a weight reduction of 60 kg and an enormous rear wing that increases downforce by 40 percent over the extraordinary GTR.

The performance improvements were verified when the Lanzante P1 LM lapped the famous Nürburgring in a mere six minutes and 43.22 seconds, nearly nine seconds faster than the record-holding Lamborghini Huracan Performante at six minutes and 52.01 seconds.

The latest Lanzante modification is the P1 GTR-18, which uses a longtail style body. The hypercar employs additional aero equipment, including a larger front splitter than the LM and a revised rear wing to create additional downforce.

Lanzante will build just six P1 GTR-18 units.

Which McLaren P1 model is worth $3.4 million?

Lanzante P1 GTR-18 boast features and performance characteristics found in the world’s most expensive supercars
Via: Motor Trend

When the McLaren P1 was first offered, it carried a base price of $1.15 million, although the out-the-door price for each custom model varied depending on how much personalization was added to the unit. McLaren’s Special Operations division caters to every modification whim, including ridiculous features like solid gold badges or a crushed diamond paint job. So, the final cost is without limits.

The Lanzante-modified McLaren P1 LM price also varies based on features, but most models were reportedly sold for about $3.7 million. Pricing information is still not available for the limited production Lanzante P1 GTR-18, but the latest version will likely fetch more than the $3.7 million LM price.

The McLaren P1 models, and most certainly the Lanzante P1 GTR-18 boast features and performance characteristics found in some of Europe’s greatest supercars. The category includes the Lotus Evija ($3.0 million), Mercedes-AMG One ($3.7 million), Koenigsegg Jesko ($4.1 million), Bugatti Chiron ($4.7 million) among others.

For the buyer with unlimited financial resources and a passion for high-performance cars, the McLaren P1 is well worth the sticker price.

NEXT: Check Out The Fastest Hybrid Supercars Of 2020

Sources: thedrive.com, driving.ca, wired.com, topspeed.com, cars.mclaren.press