New McLaren W1 Is The Brand’s Most Powerful Roadcar Ever

This is it. McLaren has finally unveiled its new flagship high-performance roadcar, and it is called the W1. And as its name suggests, this manic hypercar is the continuation of McLaren’s first halo model, the F1, and its modern-day successor, the P1.

And just like both the F1 and P1, the new W1 is developed from the ground up to push the boundaries of what a McLaren hypercar can be, and its headline figures truly reflect that. Off the bat, the W1 gets a new V8-based hybrid powertrain setup comprising a 4.0-litre twin-turbocharged V8 mill with a 90-degree flat-plane crank that allows it to rev at up to 9,200 RPM, which is then mated to a 342 HP-rated e-motor and a small 1.384-kWh battery pack.

Combined, this V8 hybrid setup delivers a total system output of 1,258 HP and 1,340 NM, making the new W1 the most potent roadcar ever produced by the Surrey-based marque.

With a total system output of 1,258 HP, the new McLaren W1 becomes the brand’s most potent roadcar ever.

What’s also impressive is that despite harbouring the heavy hybrid powertrain setup, McLaren engineers managed to keep the W1’s weight impressively low at 1,399 KG. Combined with its manic power output, the W1 boasts a best-in-class power-to-weight ratio of 899 HP per tonne, allowing a blistering fast 0-100 KM/H time of only 2.7 seconds, while 0-200 KM/H and 0-300 KM/H only take about 5.8 seconds and 12.8 seconds, respectively.

On top of its stellar V-Max of 350 KM/H, the new W1 also showcased its trackworthiness by obliterating the Nardo circuit’s lap time record set by the track-focused McLaren Senna by a whopping three seconds.

We mentioned that the W1 carries a rather small battery pack that helps to power its e-motor, and unlike other modern hypercars who opted for the plug-in hybrid (PHEV) setup, the W1 still uses the more conventional series-parallel hybrid system that features a controller unit derived from both its IndyCar and Formula One (F1) arms. As a result, this hybrid-powered hypercar only boasts an all-electric range of only 2.6 KM, while reversing is done entirely by the e-motor instead of the 8-speed DCT automatic unit primed.

Apart from its manic V8 hybrid powertrain setup, also contributing to the W1’s stellar performance are a host of aerodynamic parts primed to this hypercar. Again, taking knowledge from its motorsport venture, McLaren has implemented some serious aerodynamic works on the W1, including active ground effects a la F1 racecar, which also explains the complex and borderline-cluttered bodywork and overall design.

To make way for aerodynamic performance, designers are forced to sacrifice some stylistic and ergonomic elements from the W1. This includes the smaller window aperture to make way for larger and thicker pillars, while the two seats are fixed in place, meaning that you need to adjust the pedals and steering wheel instead to find your perfect driving position.

Typical of any McLaren hypercar, the W1 also benefits from some active aero bits, with the most prominent one being its active rear wing system. According to McLaren, the active rear wing works in tandem with the car’s active chassis control system to basically offer customers two different driving experiences from one car.

In race mode, the W1 lowers itself by 37 MM at the front and 18 MM at the rear, which is then combined with the active wing to generate a combined downforce of up to 1,000 KG in fast corners. While in normal driving mode, the rear wing retracts back to its standard position, while the car’s ride height goes back up, allowing you to drive this expensive hypercar through speed bumps and uneven roads with relative ease.

And expensive is definitely another way to describe the McLaren W1, as one example of this manic hypercar will set buyers around $2.1 million (RM8.98 million). And despite its exorbitant price tag, all 399 initial examples McLaren planned to build have all been spoken for, with all of them being hand-built by McLaren Special Operations (MSO) bespoke arm to each of the customers’ requests.